Examining the Validity of the Financial Exploitation Vulnerability Scale

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Objectives: Lichtenberg, Campbell, Hall, and Gross used a contextual framework for financial decision-making to create and provide evidence for a new scale to assess risk for financial exploitation, the Financial Exploitation Vulnerability Scale (FEVS). This study examined the criterion validity of self-reported memory complaints and living alone on FEVS risk scores.

Methods: Participants were the first 258 individuals reporting as 60 years or older and who completed the FEVS on the https://olderadultnestegg.com website between December 2020 and February 2021. Correlations, multiple regression, analysis of variance, and chi-square analyses were conducted to compare groups based on risk scores.

Results: FEVS risk scores were significantly correlated with years of education, self-reported memory complaints, and living alone; 18% of unique variance was accounted for by these measures in a regression analysis. The ANOVA indicated that while there was an interaction effect for memory complaints by living alone, the majority of variance accounted for was attributed to the self-reported memory complaints measure.

Conclusions: Older adults with memory complaints are in need of perceived financial vulnerability assessment.

Clinical Implications: The Financial Exploitation Vulnerability Scale is a valuable self-report tool that clinical gerontologists can use in their intake assessments and follow-ups.

KEYWORDS:

• Memory complaints
• financial exploitation risk
• financial vulnerability
• living alone

Clinical implications

• Older adults with memory complaints are in need of perceived financial vulnerability assessment, since wealth is vulnerable among those with memory complaints.

• The Financial Exploitation Vulnerability Scale is a valuable self-report tool that clinical gerontologists can use in their intake assessments and follow-ups.

• Clinical gerontologists must better assess and integrate financial management and vulnerability concerns into their practices.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

National Institutes of Health P30 AG015281, Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research, American House Foundation, Retirement Research Foundation 2014-024, Michigan Alzheimer’s Center Core grant #P30AG053760. State of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.