Elder Abuse Programming Among Geriatric Education Centers

Abstract

Health professionals have important roles with respect to the identification, prevention, and treatment of elder abuse. However, they often do not fulfill their roles, in part because of a lack of education and training around recognizing and intervening in the problem. Given their purpose, Geriatric Education Centers (GECs) are critically positioned to address the gap. This study explored past and present GEC programming related to elder abuse through review of individual GEC grant applications, progress reports, and other documents available at the Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr) and through structured telephone interviews with GEC program directors or their designees and selected nationally recognized elder abuse experts. Results indicated that elder abuse is addressed at most GECs, usually as an occasional faculty development or continuing education session. The majority of GECs also anticipate future elder abuse programming, typically as a continuation of what has been offered in the past. For GECs to assume a larger role in professional education and information dissemination on elder abuse, respondents felt that BHPr should provide funding incentives and publicize the availability of related resources.