Supporting family doctors to address elder abuse: a quasi-experimental study in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

This quasi-experimental study examined the effect of Supporting Family Doctors to Address Elder Abuse (SAFE) educational intervention among family doctors practicing at public primary care clinics in Malaysia. SAFE is an intensive, multimodal, locally tailored, and culturally sensitive face-to-face educational intervention on elder abuse. A significant mean score improvement of knowledge [Baseline: 5.33 (SD:1.33) to 6-month post-intervention: 6.45 (SD: 1.35); p<0.001] and perceived behavioral control [Baseline: 50.83 (SD: 8.87) to six-month post-intervention: 56.16 (SD: 9.56); p<0.001] observed in the intervention group compared to the control group. No significant difference in attitude, subjective norm, and practice scores between the two groups over time. SAFE educational intervention for family doctors was effective to improve but not sustainable knowledge and perceived behavioral control toward elder abuse identification and management. We recommend SAFE educational intervention as part of the continuous medical education for family doctors supplemented with a change in organization and national policy.

KEYWORDS:

• elder abuse
• family doctor
• education
• knowledge
• attitude

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the participants from the Negeri Sembilan State Health Department, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Penang State Health Department, Ministry of Health Malaysia and all stakeholders involved in an expert panel discussion in developing the training module. Our profound gratitude to Dato’ Dr Hajjah Zailan Bt. Dato’. Haji Adnan, the former Health Director of Negeri Sembilan State for her cooperation and dedication to this study. We also would like to thank Mr Syahrul Nellis for all of his contributions toward the study.

Ethical approval

The study protocol was approved by University Medical Centre review boards (MED ID 201401-0686) and the Malaysian Ministry of Health National Medical Research Register (NMRR-13-1456-16443).

Trial registration

The ISRCTN registration for this trial is ISRCTN10580716.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Grand Challenge Grant, Universiti Malaya [Reference no: GC001C_14HTM].