Domestic elder abuse in Yazd, Iran: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND Social changes due to urbanism, acculturation, and fading of values have led to some challenges in family relationships, including domestic elder abuse. This study was conducted to determine elder abuse status in Yazd, Iran. METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted on 250 elderly people over 60 years in Yazd in 2014-2015. Clustered random sampling was used to recruit the participants from 10 clusters in Yazd (25 individuals from each cluster). The data were gathered by the 49-item,Iranian Domestic Elder Abuse Questionnaire which was filled out through private interviews with the participants. RESULTS Mean score of elder abuse was 11.84 (SD: 12.70) of total 100. Of the participants,79.6% (95% CI: 74.5-84.6) experienced at least one type of abuse. Emotional neglect was the most reported abuse and physical abuse was the least reported. Abuse score was associated with age, education level, living status, and insurance status of elders. Further, those who reported history of gastrointestinal problems, dyslipidemia, respiratory diseases, sleep disorders, audiovisual problems, joints pain, hypertension, dental/oral problems, cardiovascular disease,urinary incontinence and disability, reported a statistically significant higher abuse score. CONCLUSION Despite overall low rate of domestic elder abuse, its high prevalence indicates that some interventions are necessary to decrease domestic elder abuse. Emotional neglect of elders should be addressed more than other abuse types.