Interdisciplinarity of Elder Mistreatment

Elder abuse can precipitate, result from, or co-exist with other forms of violence. The following are topic areas that address the interdisciplinarity of elder mistreatment and related phenomena.
- Elder abuse and opioid misuse¹
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Elder abuse and substance abuse²
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Elder abuse and alcohol misuse³
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Elder abuse and animal cruelty⁴
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Elder abuse and bullying⁵
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Elder abuse and homelessness⁶
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Elder abuse and sibling violence⁷
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Elder abuse and family violence⁸ ⁹
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Elder abuse and child abuse¹⁰ ¹¹
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Elder abuse and domestic violence¹²
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Elder abuse and COVID-19¹³ ¹⁴ ¹⁵

At its core, elder mistreatment is a multidimensional issue that invokes many different disciplines and practice areas. These include medicine, psychology, social work, law, and gerontology to name a few. Various professions address elder abuse identification, reporting, and intervention through the lens of their respective domains. Below is a list of some practice areas and their responses to elder abuse, with articles cited for reference.
- Elder abuse and social work¹⁶ ¹⁷
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Elder abuse and psychology¹⁸
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Elder abuse and psychiatry¹⁹
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Elder abuse and the law²⁰
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Elder abuse and criminal justice²¹ ²²
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Elder abuse and dentistry²³
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Elder abuse and dermatology²⁴
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Elder abuse and orthopedics²⁵
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Elder abuse and the emergency department²⁶ ²⁷ ²⁸ ²⁹ ³⁰ ³¹ ³² ³³
- Elder abuse and health care³⁴ ³⁵ ³⁶
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Elder abuse and primary care³⁷
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Elder abuse and the hospital³⁸
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Elder abuse and care managers³⁹
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Elder abuse and radiology⁴⁰
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Elder abuse and caregiving⁴¹
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Elder abuse and veterans⁴²
¹ Roberto, K. A., Teaster, P. B., Lindberg, B. W., & Blancato, R. (2020). A First (and Disturbing) Look at the Relationship Between the Opioid Epidemic and Elder Abuse: Insights of Human Service Professionals. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 0733464820947279.
² Carney, A., & Liang, K. (2020). Medication and Substance Use and Misuse in the Elderly. Elder Abuse, 213-229.
³ Teaster, P. B., & Brossoie, N. (2016). The Intersection of Elder Abuse and Alcohol Misuse. Alcohol and Aging, 131-147.
⁴ Fitzgerald, A. J., Barrett, B. J., Gray, A., & Cheung, C. H. (2020). The connection between animal abuse, emotional abuse, and financial abuse in intimate relationships: evidence from a nationally representative sample of the general public. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 0886260520939197.
⁵ von Humboldt, S., Ribeiro-Gonçalves, J. A., & Leal, I. (2020). Bullying in Old Age: A Qualitative Study on Older Adults’ Perceptions About Being Bullied. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 0886260520934730.
⁶ Petersen, M., & Parsell, C. (2015). Homeless for the first time in later life: An Australian study. Housing Studies, 30(3), 368-391.
⁷ Spira, M., Perkins, N. H., & Gilman, A. H. (2020). Trauma from physical and emotional sibling violence as a potential risk factor for elder abuse. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 63(3), 162-173.
⁸ Burns, D., Ernst, J., & Brownell, P. (2019). Stop Family Violence. Gerontological Social Work and the Grand Challenges, 33-45.
⁹ Meyer, K., Yonashiro-Cho, J., Gassoumis, Z. D., Mosqueda, L., Han, S. D., & Wilber, K. H. (2019). What can elder mistreatment researchers learn about primary prevention from family violence intervention models?. The Gerontologist, 59(4), 601-609.
¹⁰ Teresi, J. A., Burns, D., Skowron, E. A., Dutton, M. A., Mosqueda, L., Lachs, M. S., & Pillemer, K. (2016). State of the science on prevention of elder abuse and lessons learned from child abuse and domestic violence prevention: Toward a conceptual framework for research. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 28(4-5), 263-300.
¹¹ Lu, P., & Shelley, M. (2019). Comparing older adult and child protection policy in the United States of America. Ageing & Society, 1-21.
¹² Teresi, J. A., Burns, D., Skowron, E. A., Dutton, M. A., Mosqueda, L., Lachs, M. S., & Pillemer, K. (2016). State of the science on prevention of elder abuse and lessons learned from child abuse and domestic violence prevention: Toward a conceptual framework for research. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 28(4-5), 263-300.
¹³ Han, S. D., & Mosqueda, L. (2020). Elder Abuse in the COVID-19 Era. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
¹⁴ Makaroun, L. K., Bachrach, R. L., & Rosland, A. M. (2020). Elder abuse in the time of COVID-19—Increased risks for older adults and their caregivers. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 28(8), 876-880.
¹⁵ Gardner, W., States, D., & Bagley, N. (2020). The coronavirus and the risks to the elderly in long-term care. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 1-6.
¹⁶ Elman, A., Cox, S., Gottesman, E., Herman, S., Kirschner, A., Tietz, S., Shaw, A., Hancock, D., Chang, E.-S., Baek, D., Bloemen, E., Clark, S., & Rosen, T. (2023). The critical role of the specialized social worker as part of ED/hospital-based elder mistreatment response teams. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 36(4), 384-394. https://doi.org/10.1080/08946566.2023.2255742
¹⁷ Bows, H., & Penhale, B. (2018). Elder abuse and social work: Research, theory and practice.
¹⁸ Fowler, J. (2018). Preparing Psychology Doctorate Students to Identify and Report Suspected Elder Abuse: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Elder Abuse Training (Doctoral dissertation, The Wright Institute).
¹⁹ Lyznicki, R., Bryan, J. L., & Asghar-Ali, A. A. (2020). Using a Standardized Patient Encounter to Teach Psychiatry Residents How to Recognize and Respond to Elder Abuse. Academic Psychiatry, 1-2.
²⁰ Kohn, N. A. (2020). A Framework for Theoretical Inquiry into Law and Aging. Theoretical Inquiries in Law, 21(1), 187-205.
²¹ Greenwood, P. R. (2020). The Criminal Justice Response to Elder Abuse. Elder Abuse, 241-256.
²² Dion, S., Gogia, K., Elman, A., Clark, S., Ulrey, P., Connolly, M. T., … & Wartell, J. (2020). Developing a rigorous, systematic methodology to identify and categorize elder mistreatment in criminal justice data. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 32(1), 27-45.
²³ Chapa, R., Hicks, B., Prihoda, T., Smiley, L., Englehart, L., & Taverna, M. (2019). Extent of Elder Abuse Training in Dental Hygiene Curricula and Program Directors’ Perceptions of Importance and Barriers to Implementation. Journal of Dental Education, 83(1), 39–47. https://doi.org/10.21815/JDE.019.005
²⁴ Danesh, M. J., & Chang, A. L. S. (2015). The role of the dermatologist in detecting elder abuse and neglect. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 73(2), 285-293.
²⁵ Milner, J. D., Hartnett, D. A., DeFroda, S. F., Blackburn, A. Z., Cruz Jr, A. I., & Daniels, A. H. (2020). Orthopedic manifestations of abuse. The American Journal of Medicine.
²⁶ Elman, A., Rosselli, S., Burnes, D., Clark, S., Stern, M. E., LoFaso, V. M., … & Rosen, T. (2020). Developing the Emergency Department Elder Mistreatment Assessment Tool for Social Workers Using a Modified Delphi Technique. Health & Social Work, 45(2), 110-121.
²⁷ Baek, D., Elman, A., Gottesman, E., Shaw, A., Makaroun, L. K., Stern, M. E., Mulcare, M. R., Sullivan, M., Pino, C., McAuley, J., LoFaso, V., Chang, E. S., Hancock, D., Bloemen, E., Tietz, S., Lindberg, D. M., Sharma, R., Clark, S., Lachs, M. S., Pillemer, K., & Rosen, T. (2023). Initial steps in addressing the challenges of elder mistreatment evaluation: Protocol for evaluating the Vulnerable Elder Protection Team. BMJ Open, 13(10), e071694. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-071694
²⁸ Bloemen, E. M., Gottesman, E., Furfari, K., Glover, J., Gabby, E., Cox, S., Lindberg, D., Tietz, S., Rosen, T., Baek, D., Elman, A., & Huberman, B. (2024). Examining ethical issues that arise in providing ED/hospital care for patients experiencing elder mistreatment and approaches to address them. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 36(4), 395-412. https://doi.org/10.1080/08946566.2024.2365341
²⁹ Bloemen, E., Elman, A., Baek, D., Gottesman, E., Shaw, A., Sullivan, M., Pino, C., McAuley, J., Tietz, S., Herman, S., Rachmuth, L., Chang, E. S., Hancock, D., LoFaso, V. M., Stern, M. E., Lindberg, D., Clark, S., & Rosen, T. (2023). Strategies for dissemination of ED/hospital elder mistreatment response team model. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 36(4), 350-366. https://doi.org/10.1080/08946566.2023.2297232
³⁰ Bloemen, E. M., Elman, A., Tietz, S., Shaw, A., Lindberg, D. M., Gottesman, E., Hayes, J., Baek, D., Sullivan, M., Yasui, R., Pino, C., McAuley, J., Hancock, D., Chang, E.-S., LoFaso, V. M., Stern, M. E., & Rosen, T. (2024). Emergency department and hospital-based programs responding to elder mistreatment: developing consensus about who these teams serve and what makes them one. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 36(4), 339-349. https://doi.org/10.1080/08946566.2024.2384400
³¹ Burnett, J., Campetti, R., Froberg, R., Beauchamp, J. E. S., & Lees-Haggerty, K. (2024). Perspectives on elder mistreatment screening in emergency departments: A qualitative study with physicians. International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1177/00912174231225765
³² Chang, E. S., Bloemen, E. M., Tietz, S., Lindberg, D. M., Gottesman, E., Baek, D., Hancock, D., LoFaso, V. M., McAuley, J., Sullivan, M., Pino, C., Rachmuth, L., & Rosen, T. (2024). ED/hospital program continuity multi-disciplinary team meetings: Different models. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 36(4), 413-422. https://doi.org/10.1080/08946566.2024.2324315
³³ Gottesman, E., Elman, A., & Rosen, T. (2023). Elder mistreatment: Emergency department recognition and management. Clinics in Geriatric Medicine, 39(4), 553-573. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cger.2023.05.007
³⁴ Truong, C., Burnes, D., Alaggia, R., Elman, A., & Rosen, T. (2019). Disclosure among victims of elder abuse in healthcare settings: a missing piece in the overall effort toward detection. Journal of elder abuse & neglect, 31(2), 181-190.
³⁵ Wong, B. W., & Yan, E. (2024). The effectiveness of educational intervention in improving healthcare professionals’ knowledge and recognition towards elder abuse: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 78, 101952. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2024.101952
³⁶ Zhang, H., Bao, Y., Baek, D., Clark, S., Elman, A., Hancock, D., Chang, E. S., Jeng, P., Gassoumis, Z., Fettig, N., Zhang, Y., Wen, K., Lachs, M. S., Pillemer, K., & Rosen, T. (2024). Healthcare costs for legally adjudicated elder mistreatment victims in comparison to non-mistreated older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 72(1), 236–245. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.18712
³⁷ Ejaz, F. K., Rose, M., Reynolds, C., Bingle, C., Billa, D., & Kirsch, R. (2020). A Novel Intervention to Identify and Report Suspected Abuse in Older, Primary Care Patients. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
³⁸ Rosen, T., Elman, A., Dion, S., Delgado, D., Demetres, M., Breckman, R., … & Burnett, J. (2019). Review of programs to combat elder mistreatment: focus on hospitals and level of resources needed. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 67(6), 1286-1294.
³⁹ Ejaz, F. K., Rose, M., & Anetzberger, G. (2017). Development and implementation of online training modules on abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 29(2-3), 73-101.
⁴⁰ Lee, M., Rosen, T., Murphy, K., & Sagar, P. (2019). A new role for imaging in the diagnosis of physical elder abuse: results of a qualitative study with radiologists and frontline providers. Journal of elder abuse & neglect, 31(2), 163-180.
⁴¹ Lin, M. C. (2020). Communication neglect, caregiver anger and hostility, and perceptions of older care receivers’ cognitive status and problem behaviors in explaining elder abuse. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 1-24.
⁴² Makaroun, L. K., Halaszynski, J. J., Smith, K. A., Drake, R., Amelio-Hering, V., Atchison, K., Dichter, M. E., Rosland, A.-M., Thorpe, C. T., & Rosen, T. (2024). Screening for elder abuse in the veterans health administration: Varied approaches across a national health system. Journal of General Internal Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-023-08560-2