Violence on the elderly and Social Work

Abstract

Violence and abuse of the elderly won expression and visibility across the increase of the number of people aged 65 or over in the total population of developed countries. However, this issue is not only explained by the increase in the elderly population and the longevity, but also by the awareness that the problem exists, especially of professionals working in the social and health area. In this article we first identify the notions of violence upon the elderly statements by international organizations (OMS, EU) and some studies in this area. Besides this problematisation, we present the known categories of violence and risk indicators. Here is some statistical data on the phenomenon in Portugal and some guidelines for policies in this area. Secondly, we present the result of a inquiry instrument applied to social work professionals, whose aim was to assess the perception of the risk categories of violence over the elderly. You must create educational programs and prevention campaigns for the general public can identify the signs of abuse and report situations, train health professionals and social area with responsibility to protection of the elderly and introduce guidelines that homogenizing the procedures, develop home care programs to improve the procedures of informal caregivers and develop systems for monitoring and evaluating the quality of care for older people, especially the long-term.