Dr. Kelly Warren, Associate Professor

Dr. Kelly Warren of Grenfell's psychology program is working with collaborators to examine why many older adults who are maltreated fail to disclose their experience.

In a study, titled "Why older adults fail to disclose maltreatment," public perceptions regarding the notion of maltreatment of individuals over the age of 65 were examined.

The study, which involved almost 350 participants, used various scenarios to present situations where older adults are the subject of financial, physical, psychological and neglectful maltreatment.

Researchers asked the questions: Is this abuse? And if so, what type of abuse, how severe is it, and who would have perpetrated it?

"While participants generally recognized the scenarios depicting financial and physical abuse, they had difficulty recognizing neglect and psychological abuse," said Dr. Warren. "Participants' responses varied when identifying who they thought the victim would confide in; however, when the abuse was perpetrated by a family member, the victim was perceived as being more likely to confide in a homecare worker and vice versa."

Underreporting by older adults was another focus of the study. For instance, participants thought males would be more likely to report abuse than females, and that financial abuse would be more likely to be reported than the other three types.

Why is this the case? The reasons given by participants varied according to both type of abuse and the identity of the perpetrator. The takeaways?

This study is part of a larger program of study assessing the underreporting of elder abuse. Data collection is ongoing in a study pertaining to older adults' perceptions of the mistreatment of other older adults. Dr. Warren has however noted some preliminary findings.

"The vast majority of participants are saying they would report the abuse," she said. "The person to whom they would report and the reasons for underreporting vary according to the type of abuse and the perpetrator, but police, friends, family, and healthcare workers were most commonly cited as the people to whom older adults would report."

In addition to these studies, the researchers have completed a project with police officers assessing their experiences of interviewing older adults, and are completing similar projects with healthcare professionals and those who work with older adults in other professions or volunteer experiences.

Dr. Warren's research is funded by the Aging Research Centre-Newfoundland and Labrador.