Elder Abuse Research Paper

To fully understand the question of how adequate carer stress is we firstly need to look at what is elder abuse and what is carer stress then we can actually see how adequate it is in the explanation of elder abuse compared to that of any other explanation of elder abuse. As Mervyn Eastman suggests elder abuse is the “systematic maltreatment, physical, emotional or financial, of an elderly person by a care-giving relative. (Eastman 1984 pg 23.) Where as others such as Whitehead suggests it is more physical, “individuals sometimes assaulted people close to them and then either forced or conspired with them to make out the resulting injuries were sustained accidentally.” (Decalmer and Glendenning 1997 pg 13)

Elder abuse is not a knew idea but how to treat or cure it is, it has been suggested that because people within the family unit are starting to live longer the chance of elder abuse is growing. Grandparents are seen as the figure heads of the family and are sometimes used for babysitting when needed by the sons or daughters but later on in life when the roles are reversed it is often seen that the reliable grandparent has now become a burden to that son or daughter. This is where elder abuse can take place because the carer is so close the ‘stress’ finally becomes too much for the person to take that they lash out at the person closest to them, which in this case is the elderly relative.

In today’s society elder abuse and neglect is becoming more and more noticed by the people that live within this society, it is highlighted even more so by the media with the use of terms such as ‘granny bashing’ or ‘granny battering’ the use of such terms though highlights that people do not accept that such a thing as elder abuse can go on next door as suggested by Eastman. The terms also seem to be referring to actions of thugs, but this is often not the case but people believe this to be the case as it is portrayed by the media in such a way without highlighting that many cases of elderly abuse is by that of a close relative who is caring for them.

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To fully understand elder abuse I feel it is necessary to look at the different types of elder abuse highlighted by Eastman. Firstly he looks at emotional abuse and as he says it is hard to define what is emotional abuse because, “shouting, displaying strong emotions, or the use of harsh language may all be examples of psychological abuse but may also be due to social or cultural factors or the way that particular family operates.” (Eastman 1984 pg 23.) This suggests that one family may operate in a particular way and maybe seen as ordinary to some people but others may see this normal way of operating as abuse. This is difficult to define as abuse because it is not seen that easily because of different peoples way of living or dealing with things.

Financial abuse is easier to detect and see than that of emotional response but people often do not realise that they are actually abusing their elderly relative and hey believe that they are actually trying to help them rather than abusing them. The most obvious type of financial abuse is that of stealing from the purse of an elderly relative so that you can spend the money on your self. There are of course other types of this abuse such as selling the house of the elderly dependent relative without them fully understand what is actually going on. This is abuse as the elderly person is being forced into something they don’t fully understand and in that case it maybe against their wishes. Another type of financial abuse highlighted by Eastman is that of collecting the elderly relatives pension money and then spending some of that money on one self without realising that they are in fact actually abusing that relative they are supposed to be looking after to ensure they are alright.

The most obvious type of elder abuse is that of physical abuse and is sometimes linked to that of child abuse, this is shown by an anonymous verse in Decalmer and Glendenning,
“When I was a laddie,
I lived with my granny,
And many a hiding me granny gi’ed me.
Now I am a man,
And I live with my granny,
And I do to my granny,
What she did to me.”
(Declamer and Glendenning 1997 pg 14)

This highlights the fact if you were abused as a child by a close relative it is suggested that if you look after that relative in later life you are more likely to abuse that person because they abused you and that is what you are used to.
There are different types of physical abuse according to Eastman these are a physical assault, the withholding of medication, the withholding of food, warmth or comfort as well as ejecting the elderly relative from the home. The question of why people actually physically abuse an elderly relative is actually hard to answer because physical abuse is ‘multi-faceted and hidden deep within the complexities of human relationships’ (Eastman 1984 pg 24.) According to Decalmer and Glendenning, there are to many definitions of what actually constitutes elder abuse and it is not until we all agree on this, that we can actually start to treat and cure this problem this is backed up by Johnson who says, “…until we can adopt a standard definition of elder abuse, casual theory cannot be explored.” (Johnson in Decalmer and Glendenning 1997 pg 16.) This shows that the full extent of what causes elder abuse is not fully understood because there are too many different types of definitions rather than one, which everyone can explore. If this is the case then can we really say that ‘carer stress’ as an explanation if the experts can’t agree on what actually is elder abuse and how it is caused?

To see whether or not ‘carer stress’ is adequate in the explanation of elder abuse we need to understand what carer stress is and how it causes that person to abuse the elderly relative who depends on them heavily. To understand this topic I feel we firstly need to look at what actually is an abuser; Eastman’s definition is that simply it means to ‘abuse or mistreat a person either physically or verbally.’ (Eastman 1984 pg 42) This is not the case though as he later argues that the dependent relative sometimes may provoke the care-giving relative into abusing them or maybe even mistreating or abusing the relative who is actually giving the care. Eastman argues that the carer is sometimes, more often than not a victim themselves because of the stresses that have been suddenly put upon them have caused them to be mistreated by the elderly relative. Eastman suggests that these carers are ordinary people thrust into difficult situations and some how they find themselves abusing their elderly relatives and they cannot explain why they are abusing the relative and often they don’t even realise that they are doing so, although they sometimes believe or suggest that it is down to stress and the elderly relative that is provoking them into the abusing relationship and this abuse is a way of coping with the stress of sometimes looking after the relative twenty four hours a day none stop because they have become so dependent.

We need to look closely at what causes the abuser to actually abuse and what factors lay within these. Eastman believes that normal factors which are often considered in cases, such as socio-economic status, ethnic background are not that important here as these are more to do with the carers own self esteem. The key factor to why these care givers actually abuse is believed to be linked with the fear of being trapped by this elderly relative. The carer believes that he or she will not be able to live a normal live if they have to look after this elderly relative, because it often means constant care twenty four hours around the clock for quite a long period of life. Many carers feel that if they do look after this elderly relative then they will be missing out on life and therefore abuse the relative as a way of making themselves feel better.

This is further highlighted by Eastman who has examined two studies into why cares often turn to abuse. These studies highlighted several key areas to why carers abuse these were stress, frustration, resentment and resignation. These four results Eastman believes show the true reason to why a carer turns to abuse. Firstly stress causes the carer to abuse because they can no longer cope with the relationship the are stuck in and the only way out they feel is to abuse. Secondly frustration causes the carer to abuse because the can’t cope with the sheer amount of work involved in looking after their relative. Thirdly resentment, this causes the carer to abuse because the resent having to look after the particular relative while they could be living their own lives at work or with their own partners. They believe that their own standard of life would be better if they had not had the relative to look after. Lastly we will look at resignation, this causes the carer to abuse the relative because they have become resigned to looking after this relative, the idea of ‘I’ve learned to live with it now’ and that the carer accepts the relationship and how it should be yet again it is the only so called escape that the carer can find by abusing the relative they are looking after.

Is the idea of ‘carer stress’ adequate in the explanation of elder abuse from what we have seen above it is in some way adequate in the explanation but there are other factors highlighted by Eastman such as resentment and frustration but these can all be linked back to stress so is this the underlying exception that stress truly causes a carer to abuse. Decalmer and Glendenning disagree and highlight several other theories in their on the mistreatment of elderly people.

Decalmer and Glendenning highlight three key theories in the explanation of elder abuse these are the Interactionist perspective, the Political economic perspective and the Humanity perspective. The Interactionist perspective argues that the abuse and neglect of an elderly relative is a consequence of the interaction within either a family or institution. They believe that the problem arises from ‘social and biological ageing, which might change role definitions within the social groups with which the older person is interacting.’ (Decalmer and Glendenning 1997 pg 111.) This shows that an Interactionist believes that the abuse is due to the way that the elderly person reacts to the people surrounding them and these reactions cause the carer to abuse the relative around them.

The Political economy perspective focuses on the impact of society on the lives of the older people within it. They believe that old age is socially as well as biologically constructed status and it puts carers and the elderly person within a framework of social and political resources and ideologies. This suggests that the elderly people are pushed aside by the society they live within and because society has rejected them it is only natural for the relative to finally reject them and eventually abuse them in some way.

The Humanity perspective identifies the ‘absence of meaning of lives for elderly people and doubt and uncertainty which seemed to infuse their daily routines and relationships.’(Decalmer and Glendenning 1997 pg 113.) The humanities believe that these problems are not addressed by society, which diminishes the relationship with older people more. They believe that it exemplifies the ambivalent feelings society has towards older people. They believe because society does not address these problems that the carer will not to and therefore when the elderly relative starts to nag the carer it provokes the carer to abuse the relative because it does not know how to solve the problems of the elderly relative, then it is not until the problems of old people are solved then eventually elder abuse can be solved.

In answering the question of adequacy of carer stress as an explanation I feel that as we have seen as Decalmer and Glendenning suggest that there are too many different definitions of elder abuse that one is not as adequate as the other I believe that one definition needs to be found before examining the issue of carer stress as without a proper definition who is to say what causes it. The issue of carer stress is difficult to answer because Eastman argues that it is part of the explanation of elder abuse as a broad subject and that there are other issues affecting why elder abuse is committed by the carer upon the elderly relative. Although he does suggest that this stress is a major underlying part of the explanation. So is it adequate I feel it is as most of the arguments lean towards that of carer stress but I feel that we need to look at other perspectives such as the Humanity or the Interactionist perspective to fully understand the issue of elder abuse and how it actually occurs and more importantly why the carer is driven to abuse it’s elderly relative.

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