Abstract
Elder abuse is a human rights and public health issue that requires interventions that will increase safety and improve quality of life for older adults who experience abuse, their families, and their communities. This chapter describes how the aging, health, and criminal justice systems have established ways to prevent elder abuse and to intervene when it occurs. The strategies include adult protective services, long-term care ombudsman, domestic violence prevention and intervention, aging, health and victim services. The philosophy and theoretical orientation behind each strategy differ. The chapter also will address the efforts to create a wide-ranging response to elder mistreatment that relies on cooperation among different service systems, which have varying roles in response. The chapter also addresses the role of laws and public policies in shaping these systemic responses. A challenge is that the majority of interventions to address elder abuse lack solid research that demonstrates their effectiveness.
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Ernst, J.S. (2022). Systems Responses to Older Adult and Elder Abuse. In: Geffner, R., White, J.W., Hamberger, L.K., Rosenbaum, A., Vaughan-Eden, V., Vieth, V.I. (eds) Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89999-2_92
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