Author

Carmen Price

Campus Location

Abilene Campus (Residential)

Date of Award

5-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Social Work

Degree Name

Master of Science

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Tom Winter

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

Malcolm Scott

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Melissa Whitaker

Abstract

With the increase in people over the age of 65, the need for education about elder abuse and intervention in confirmed cases has become a priority for service providers, including social workers. The purpose of this study is to bring awareness to the different circumstances attributing to a senior adult over the age of 65 becoming a victim of elder abuse or financial exploitation. This exploratory descriptive study gathered data from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Open Data Portal and the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau. Various analyses were conducted to determine what may cause someone to be a victim of abuse. Factors such as socioeconomic status, ethnic or cultural backgrounds, and perpetrator relationship are considered in the analysis of the data. The results show that there is no correlation between socioeconomic status and incidents of elder abuse. Ethnicity and the perpetrator’s relationship to the victim showed to be higher contributing factors to elder abuse. The results of the study indicate that education for adults over the age of 65 is key to preventing elder abuse and financial exploitation.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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