J Korean Soc Emerg Med.  2016 Aug;27(4):351-359. 10.0000/jksem.2016.27.4.351.

A Survey of Emergency Department Health Care Provider on Awareness of Elder Abuse

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Emergency Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. minsub01.sim@samsung.com

Abstract

PURPOSE
The population of senior citizens is rapidly growing in Korea, and this would inevitably result in the increase of elder abuse. This study was designed to survey healthcare providers in the emergency department, who may have a high probability of coming into contact with abused senior citizens, on the awareness of elder abuse, and to evaluate the level of legal knowledge and standard of education amongst these care providers.
METHODS
This study was a descriptive, cross-sectional survey research and was made for doctors and nurses with at least a one-year experience working in an emergency department at a university hospital in Seoul. A total of 142 participants were included for analysis.
RESULTS
Approximately 69.7% (n=99) of participants were relatively well aware of the obligation to report an elder abuse case. However, only 17.6% (n=25) of participants were aware of the method to file a report. Moreover, only 8.0% (n=11) of participants knew the provisions on punishing for not reporting. Only 15% (n=22) of participants received proper education relating to elder abuse after getting hired. Participants who received the education after getting hired have a better knowledge about elder abuse than those who did not receive the education (p=0.001). Participants who watch press reports about elder abuse showed to have better legal knowledge than those who do not watch such reports (p=0.012).
CONCLUSION
With regard to participants' level of awareness of the severity according to the type of abuse, physical abuse was seen as the most serious (4.22), followed by neglect (3.52), abandonment (3.18), emotional abuse (2.66), sexual abuse (2.61), and financial abuse (2.27).

Keyword

Awareness; Education; Elder abuse; Emergency department

MeSH Terms

Aged
Cross-Sectional Studies
Delivery of Health Care*
Education
Elder Abuse*
Emergencies*
Emergency Service, Hospital*
Health Personnel*
Humans
Korea
Methods
Physical Abuse
Seoul
Sex Offenses
Full Text Links
  • JKSEM
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr