Prevalence of Abuse and its Related Factors in the Elderly of Gonabad City 2020

Objectives:  Elder abuse is one or the major social health problems in communities. It has significant effects on decreasing the health and security among this subgroup of population. Therefore, the present study was designed to investigate the prevalence of elder abuse and its related factors in the elderly of Gonabad in 2020. Methods & Materials:  The present cross-sectional study was performed on 401 elderly who met the inclusion criteria. Data collection tools were a two-part questionnaire including demographic information questionnaire and the questionnaire of abuse against the elderly in the family. Samples were selected as random clusters. Data were collected from community health centers and health centers. Data were analyzed using software (SPSS) using descriptive and inferential statistics with a significance level of less than 0.05. Results: In the present study, the mean and standard deviation of participants' age was 68.53± 6.75 and the prevalence of elder abuse in the family was 44.6%. Findings indicated that the highest prevalence of abuse was related to care negligence and the lowest prevalence of abuse was related to rejection. Between education (p = 0.03), history of hospitalization (p <0.001), quality of sleep (p <0.001), income (p <0.001) and dependence (p <0.001) There was a statistically significant relationship with the prevalence of elder abuse in the family. Conclusion: Given the high prevalence of elder abuse in Gonabad, it seems necessary to have programs to increase the awareness of the elderly, their caregivers and health personnel to prevent and reduce abuse of the elderly.