The Effect of Care Setting on Elder Abuse: Results from a Michigan Survey

Abstract

This study compares abuse rates for elders age 60 and older in three care settings: nursing home, paid home care, and assisted living. The results are based on a 2005 random-digit dial survey of relatives of, or those responsible for, a person in long-term care. Nursing homes have the highest rates of all types of abuse, although paid home care has a relatively high rate of verbal abuse and assisted living has an unexpected high rate of neglect. Even when adjusting for health conditions, care setting is a significant factor in both caretaking and neglect abuses. Moving from paid home care to nursing homes is shown to more than triple the odds of neglect. Furthermore, when computing abuse rates by care setting for persons with specified health conditions, nursing homes no longer have the highest abuse rates.

KEYWORDS:

• elder abuse
• mistreatment
• care setting
• health condition

The authors would like to thank the referees for their helpful comments leading to the improvement of this manuscript. They also would like to thank Amy Burhop and Emily Walainis for their excellent editorial assistance. This research was supported by a grant (11-P-93042/5) from the United States Department of Health and Human Services.