Male Victims of Elder Abuse: Their Experiences and Needs (Violence and Abuse Series)

113 Pages·2001·0.33 MB·English

by  Jacki Pritchard

Male Victims of Elder Abuse
Violence and Abuse Series
Thisnewseriesformsasetof accessiblebooksforpractitioners,managersand
policymakersworkinginsocialandhealthcare,probationandcriminology.Each
bookdrawsonakeypieceofresearchorcurrentpracticerelatingtoviolenceand
abusetogivepracticalguidanceonnewwaysofworkingwithbothvictimsand
perpetrators to bring about positive change.
ofrelated interest
Good Practice with Vulnerable Adults
Edited by Jacki Pritchard
ISBN 1 85302 892 3
Becoming a Trainer in Adult Abuse Work
A Practical Guide
Jacki Pritchard
ISBN 1 85302 913 0
Working with Elder Abuse
A Training Manual for Home Care, Residential and Day Care Staff
Jacki Pritchard
ISBN 1 85302 418 X
The Abuse ofOlder People
A Training Manual for Detection and Prevention, 2nd edition
Jacki Pritchard
Foreword by Eric Sainsbury
ISBN 1 85302 305 1
Narrative Approaches to Working with Adult
Male Survivors ofChild Sexual Abuse
The Clients’, the Counsellor’s and the Researcher’s Story
Kim Etherington
ISBN 1 85302 818 5
Geronticide
Killing the Elderly
Mike Brogden
ISBN 1 85302 709 X
Male Victims
of Elder Abuse
Their Experiences and Needs
Jacki Pritchard
Jessica KingsleyPublishers
London and Philadelphia
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may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
The right ofJacki Pritchard to be identified as author ofthis work has been
asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
First published in the United Kingdom in 2001 by
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
116 Pentonville Road
London N1 9JB, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia PA 19106, USA
www.jkp.com
Copyright © Jacki Pritchard 2001
Library ofCongress Cataloging in Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library ofCongress
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN-13: 978 1 85302 999 8
ISBN-10: 1 85302 999 8
ISBN pdfeBook: 1 84642 052 0
Printed and Bound in Great Britain by
Athenaeum Press, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear
Contents
Acknowledgements 6
Introduction 7
1 Men: victims of abuse 17
2 Quantitative findings 26
3 In-depth interviews 40
4 Needs of male victims 58
5 Outcomes 90
6 Practice issues 95
7 Conclusion 100
References 105
Subject Index 108
Author Index 112
Acknowledgements
Itisimportanttothankthethreesocialservicesdepartments
who participated in the original project and the Joseph
Rowntree Foundation for funding the research.
In addition, special thanks are due to the managers and
workers within the day/resource centres, who were so
supportiveinhelpingmetoworkwithmalevictimsandgive
this important issue the recognition it deserves.
Iamindebtedtotwopeoplewhosupportedmeduringthe
original project and through this current work. First, Eric
Sainsbury,whoonceagainhasbeeninvaluableinactingasmy
‘soundingboard’andreadingthedraftsofthisbook.Second,
Melanie Whitehouse, whose patience seems infinite when
transcribing tapes from interview.
Finally,Iamverygratefultoallthemenwhohavespoken
sowillinglytomeinfocusgroupsandininterview,because
withouttheiropennessthisimportantworkcouldnothave
been undertaken.
Note
TheJosephRowntreeFoundationhassupportedthisprojectaspartofits
programmeofresearchandinnovativedevelopmentprojects,whichithopes
willbeofvaluetopolicymakersandpractitioners.Thefactspresentedand
viewsexpressedinthisbookare,however,thoseoftheauthorandnot
necessarily those ofthe Foundation.
Introduction
Thisbookisaboutmenwhohavebeenabusedinlaterlife:
they are victims of elder abuse. Some of them have also
beenabusedinchildhoodorearlierinadulthood.Indeed,
some may be said to have suffered a lifetime of abuse.
Before discussing the life experiences and needs of these
malevictims,itisnecessarytoconsiderelderabuseinmore
generalterms,recognisingthatthisasubjectwhichtodate
hasbeenlargelyignored,butisanessentialcontexttothe
more specific problems associated with male victims.
Elder abuse is not a new phenomenon; it has been
aroundforcenturies,thoughwehaveoftenfailedtorefer
to it in such terms. Shakespeare was writing about two
malevictimsofelderabusewhenhewroteKingLear.The
abuseof olderpeople iscertainlynotsomethingnewfor
thetwenty-firstcenturyyetitisnotgiventhehighprofile
whichitsincidencedeserves.Oneofthereasonsforthisis
that in some societies older people are not given much
respect; they may be seen as an economic burden on
society because theyarenolongereconomicallyproduc-
tive.Insocietieswhichemphasiseyouthfulvigour,oldage
will tend to have a very negative image; consequently,
youngerpeoplemaycometofeargrowingold.Becoming
frail, disabled or incapacitated are typical stereotypes of
older people despite the reality that being old can bring
newexperiences andmanynewrewards.Anotherconse-
quence of ageism is that if people do not want to think
7
8 MALEVICTIMSOFELDERABUSE
abouttheinevitabilityofoldage,theymayavoidinteract-
ingwitholdpeopleandalsoavoidwatching,listeningor
reading about the ‘nasty things’ which can happen to an
olderperson.Thus,elderabuseisfrequentlysweptunder
thecarpet,bothbyprofessionalsandbythepublicatlarge.
Notsurprisingly,therefore,elderabusedoesnotgetthe
same media attention as child abuse. The bottom line is
thatolderpeoplearenotasacceptablyemotiveaschildren.
Nevertheless, progress is being made in this important
subjectanditmaybeusefultothereaderinitiallytodiscuss
some of the key developments in recent years before
turning attention to the plight of male victims.
Terminology and developments
In the 1970s and 1980s the terms ‘granny-bashing’ and
‘granny-battering’wereingeneraluse.Atthattimenoone
was offended by the term but interestingly there was no
mention of ‘grandad-bashing’! Some professionals had
startedtoacknowledgethatolderpeoplewerebeingmis-
treated or harmed. Two geriatricians working with older
people highlighted the problem as early as 1975 (Baker
1975;Burston1975,1977),buttherewaslittlepublicor
professional reaction to their work. The real pioneer in
givingprominence totheproblem was MervynEastman,
whowasemployedasasocialworkerwithspecialrespon-
sibilitiesforolderpeople.Heusedtheterm‘oldageabuse’
and defined it as:
thesystematicmaltreatment,physical,emotionalorfi-
nancial,ofanelderlyperson…thismaytaketheform
ofphysicalassault,threateningbehaviour,neglectand
abandonment or sexual assault. (Eastman 1984, p.3)
INTRODUCTION 9
Eastman’sworkfocusedverymuchonthetheoryofcarer’s
stressindomesticsettings.Thisranparallelwithresearch
whichwasbeingundertakeninNorthAmericaatthetime.
Asearlyas1981,elderabusehadbeenreferredtointhe
USSenateas‘anationalepidemic’(quotedinRiley1989
p.1). In the UK, recognition of and progress towards ad-
dressingthissocialproblemwereslow.Amajorconference
wasconvenedbytheBritishGeriatricsSocietyin1988to
raise awareness abouttheproblem andatthattimeafew
socialservicesdepartmentshadstartedtodeveloppolicies
andproceduresonelderabuse(Tomlin1989).KentSocial
ServicesDepartmentwasthefirsttoproduceguidancefor
practitionersandmanyauthoritiessubsequentlyfollowed
suit(KentSocialServicesDepartment1987).Intheearly
1990s there was some debate about whether ‘mistreat-
ment’wasamoreappropriatetermthan‘abuse’whencon-
sidering how older people were harmed. Since then, the
adoptionoftheterm‘elderabuse’hasbeenwidespread.In
1992 the Social Services Inspectorate produced Con-
frontingElder Abuse, which presented findings of research
whichhadbeenundertakenintwoLondonboroughs(De-
partment of Health 1992). As a result of that research,
practice guidelines were produced in the following year
entitled No Longer Afraid: The Safeguard of Older People in
DomesticSettings(DepartmentofHealth1993).Thedefini-
tion of elder abuse was set broadly enough to include
neglectandsexualabuse,neitherofwhichhadbeengiven
much attention previously because of the assumption of
their low incidence: