Multiple approaches to understanding and preventing elder abuse: Introduction to the cross-disciplinary National Institutes of Health workshop

ABSTRACT

On October 30, 2015, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) convened a workshop, “Multiple Approaches to Understanding and Preventing Elder Abuse,” in Bethesda, Maryland. The workshop brought together experts from across disciplines to discuss research challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned from other fields. Participants included experts in elder abuse, child abuse, intimate partner violence (IPV), emergency medicine, and neuroscience. In this special issue of the Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect, participants address topics explored before, during, and after the day-long workshop.

KEYWORDS:

• Child abuse
• cross-disciplinary
• elder abuse research
• intimate partner violence
• National Institutes of Health
• workshop

Acknowledgments

The NIH workshop was planned and run by a trans-NIH planning team. The members of the NIH team each made substantial individual contributions to establishing the workshop goals, developing the agenda, planning and managing individual sessions, identifying and communicating with workshop participants, and facilitating the workshop. They also assisted with the development of this introductory piece and provided valuable input on early drafts. The planning team included Lisa Begg, DrPH, RN, Cheryl Boyce, PhD, Jeremy Brown, MD, Dorothy Castille, PhD, William Elwood, PhD, Jovier Evans, PhD, Melissa Gerald, PhD, Amy Lossie, PhD, Valerie Maholmes, PhD, Lisbeth Nielsen, PhD, and Lois Tully, PhD.