Screening for domestic abuse and its relationship with demographic variables among elderly individuals referred to primary health care centers of Shiraz in 2018.

Background: Elder abuse is an important public health problem. The present study was aimed to determine the rate of domestic abuse and its relationship with demographic characteristics among elderly people referred to Primary Health Care (PHC) centers in Shiraz, Iran, 2018.

Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 older people aged 60 years old and above who referred to 22 PHC centers of Shiraz. The data were collected using demographic characteristics questionnaire, Katz index, the domestic elder abuse questionnaire, and elder neglect checklist through face-to-face interview and observation methods. Backward linear regression model was used for analyzing the data.

Results: The results indicated that 52.5% of the participants were female and 51.8% aged 60-69 years old. A total of 159 cases (39.8%) reflected at least one form of elder abuse or neglect. The results indicated that 21% of the participants (n = 84) were abused by their own children. Care neglect was the most reported form (42.8%), followed by psychological abuse (41.3%), emotional neglect (38.8%), and financial abuse (34.3%). The most common types of neglect were motion limitations (25%) followed by the dental problems (23.8%). The results also showed a significant relationship between domestic elder abuse and level of income (p = 0.017), having a house (p = 0.028), type of perpetrator (< 0.001), and insurance status (p = 0.027).

Conclusions: The results revealed a considerable rate of domestic abuse against elderly people, causing a serious risk for their health and security.