Abuse among elderly living in old age homes of Pokhara Lekhnath Metropolitan City:A cross sectional study

Abstract

Elder abuse is a common social problem in developed and developing countries and it imposes a huge impact in the physical and mental health of the elderly. With the changes in the socioeconomic aspect of Nepalese society, many elderly are relocating from their homes to old age homes. This study was conducted to assess the status of abuse among the elderly before they enter to old aged homes. A cross sectional study was conducted to assess the status of abuse among elderly before they enter to the old age homes. Consecutive sampling technique was used and semi structured interview schedule was used to collect the data from 109 elderly residing in 6 old aged homes in Pokhara. Collected data was analyzed descriptive and inferential (chi square) statistics using SPSS version 16. The findings from the study showed that that 97.2% of the elderly experienced some forms of abuse before they were brought to the old Age home. Majority of them reported that they experienced neglect (83.5%) followed by verbal abuse (34.9) while least of them (5.5%) reported that they suffered physical abuse(2.8%) and financial abuse(2.8%). However, no significant association could be seen between abuse of elderly with age, education, marital status, place of residence, having children and adequacy of income. It is recommended that the nation develop and implement necessary plans to strengthen the social security of the people at their old age.