Prevalence and correlates of abuse screening items among community-dwelling Hong Kong Chinese older adults.

Aim: The present study aims to describe the prevalence of potential elder abuse, and to examine correlates of abuse screening items among Chinese community-dwelling older adults.

Methods: We analyzed the data of 3435 older persons aged ≥60 years who had first applied for the long-term care services in Hong Kong and completed the screening tool (Minimum Data Set-Home Care) in 2006. For each of the five abuse screening items ("fearful of a family member/caregiver," "unexplained injuries/broken bones/burns," "physically restrained," "unusually poor hygiene" and "neglected/abused/mistreated"), we examined its relationship with four types of factors: older person, perpetrator, relationship and environment.