Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect· 2026Q2
Fifty years of elder abuse research: what have we learned about risk, assessment, prevention, and treatment?
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- Q2SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
After 50+ years of research, effective elder abuse interventions remain elusive, though promising program-level approaches exist, particularly by adapting risk assessment and intervention strategies from child maltreatment and intimate partner violence research.
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Key points
- Elder abuse has been a research and policy focus for over 50 years.
- Effective interventions for elder abuse are still largely absent.
- Promising approaches exist at the program and organizational levels.
- Adapting risk assessment and intervention strategies from child maltreatment and intimate partner violence research is recommended.
- Refined assessments and tailored interventions are needed to address diverse risk factors and etiologies.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Elder abuse has been a focus of research and policy for over half a century. This article discusses this history, Focusing on elder abuse in the community, we trace seminal studies and innovative research and policy efforts that have sought to address key elder abuse questions, including how prevalent elder abuse is, why it occurs, risk and protective factors, and what is known about how it can be prevented/addressed. Although reviews indicate that effective interventions are lacking, we discuss several promising approaches at the program and organizational level. We recommend building on approaches from child maltreatment and intimate partner violence, including applying risk assessments that offer important lessons for elder abuse. We conclude by recommending refinement of assessments to identify different types of risks, along with interventions that recognize different etiologies and treatment approaches.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Demography
DemographySocial Sciences