Iowa Family Physician's Reporting of Elder Abuse

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To determine family practice physician's knowledge of state laws regarding elder abuse, perceived barriers to reporting suspected cases of elder abuse, and factors associated with reporting elder abuse in practice.

Methods: Mailed questionnaire to 1,030 Iowa Academy of Family Practice Physicians with 378 (37%) returned. Chi-square tests modified for trend and stepwise logistic regression were used to determine influences on whether physicians saw a case of elder abuse in the past year, and whether physicians chose to report those cases.

Results: A strong predictor for number of cases seen and if cases had been reported, was the physician asking the elderly patient direct questions about elder mistreatment. Other positive associations were if the physician's office had a protocol for reporting elder abuse, and if physicians lived in the most rural areas.

Conclusion: Knowledge of elder abuse legislation increases physician likelihood of reporting elder abuse, but not of seeing cases of elder abuse, so education alone is not the answer to increase physician ability to detect elder mistreatment.

KEYWORDS:

• Elder abuse
• family practice physicians
• mandatory reporter