Elder Abuse Prevention: Emerging Trends and Promising Strategies / Edition 1

by Lisa Nerenberg MSW, MPH

Overview

I found this book to be informative, well-researched, and well-thought out...The book is an asset to students, scholars, and seasoned practioners alike.

—International Perspectives in Victimology

Lisa Nerenberg provides the first comprehensive look at elder abuse prevention trends and strategies. Drawing from existing models and examining salient factors, she outlines approaches to intervention that consider victims and perpetrators and engage communities and service systems. She also offers meaningful response to the many challenges endemic to elder abuse work. As a result, Lisa gives hope to the field."

Beginning as a grassroots advocate a quarter century ago in San Francisco, Lisa developed and tested many viable elder abuse prevention programs herself through the local elder abuse network before exploring best practices elsewhere. This unique evolution and perspective gives her the depth and breadth of understanding needed to write a book like this, able to resonate equally with adult protective service workers struggling to manage caseloads of vulnerable elders, law enforcement personnel trying to prosecute abusers, and academics searching for effective responses to the problem."—

—Georgia J. Anetzberger, PhD, ACSW

Assistant Professor of Health Care Administration at Cleveland State University

and Editor of the Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect

Recipient of the Legal Assistance for Seniors' "Leading the Fight for Seniors' Rights" annual award for 2007!

Drawing from over twenty years of experience helping communities improve their response to elder abuse, Lisa Nerenberg describes what agencies, communities, tribes, states, and national organizations are doing to prevent abuse, treat its effects, and ensure justice. She further explores what remains to be done and offers a plan for the future. In doing so, she addresses the broader challenges of fortifying the long-term care, protective service, and legal systems to meet the new and imminent demands of a burgeoning elderly population. In short, the book is about making communities safer places to grow old.

Ms. Nerenberg begins by exploring trends that have shaped or defined practice in the field of elder abuse prevention including the Supreme Court's Olmstead decision; a shift in focus from protecting to empowering victims; an increasingly multicultural elderly population; the "globalization" of the field; and heightened understanding of the "psychology of victimization" (or why victims do what they do and perhaps more importantly, why they often don't do what professionals think they should). She further describes eight models and theories on which practice has been based ranging from the widely recognized adult protective service and domestic violence prevention models to lesser-known approaches such as the family preservation and restorative justice models. She describes specific interventions and approaches that each model has contributed, their benefits and limitations, what is known about their impact, and factors that dictate what responses are appropriate to specific settings and situations.

In addition to describing techniques used by individual practitioners, the author outlines strategies and services that agencies, communities, states, tribes, courts, and national organizations have designed, which include elder forensics centers, elder courts, family justice centers, elder shelters, "hybrid" multidisciplinary teams, fraud prevention programs, support groups, restorative justice programs, and culturally specific outreach campaigns. She details progressive public policy initiatives, which range from statutes that provide for the mandatory reporting of deaths in nursing homes, to efforts to improve the collection and distribution of restitution, to laws that address the role of undue influence in elder abuse.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826103277
Publisher:	Springer Publishing Company
Publication date:	12/28/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Lisa Nerenberg, MSW, MPH, is a consultant in elder abuse prevention. Previously, she directed the San Francisco Consortium for Elder Abuse Prevention at the Institute on Aging, which was one of the first elder abuse prevention programs in the country.

Read an Excerpt

chapter

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
I. EIGHT TRENDS SHAPING PRACTICE

• Increasingly Frail Elders are Living at Home
• Shifting Paradigms: From Protection to Empowerment
• Heightened Understanding of Victims
• The Circle Widens: The Burgeoning Abuse Prevention Network
• The Changing Role of APS
• The "Criminalization" of Elder Abuse
• Focus on Forensics
• Going Global: International Initiatives to Prevent Elder Abuse

II. DEFINING ELDER ABUSE: THE CONTROVERSIES
Controversies in Defining Elder Abuse

• The Disability Requirement
• The "Special Relationship" Requirement
• Intentionality
• Focusing on Conduct or Its Impact
• Frequency and Severity
What the Experts Say
Challenges in Defining Specific Forms of Abuse

• Financial Abuse
• Physical Abuse
• Sexual Abuse
• Emotional Abuse
• Neglect
• Self-Neglect Abandonment

III. SERVICE MODELS FROM WHICH WE HAVE DRAWN
The Adult Protective Services Model
The Domestic Violence Prevention Model
The Public Health Model
The Victim Advocacy Model
The Restorative Justice Model
Neutralization Theory
The Family Caregiver Support Model
The Family Preservation Model

IV. FACTORS INFLUENCING INTERVENTION NEEDS
Victim Considerations
Perpetrator Considerations
Urgency of the Situation
Ethical Considerations
Cultural Factors Affecting Service Needs

V. PREVENTING AND TREATING ELDER ABUSE
Assessing Victims' Service Needs
Services and Interventions for Victims

• Maintaining Independence
• Resolving Crises
• Emergency Services
• Ensuring Victim Safety
• Hearing, Empowerment, and Support
• Preserving, Protecting, and Recovering Assets
• Ensuring Justice
Interventions for Perpetrators and Those at Risk for Abusing

• Counseling for Perpetrators
• Domestic Violence Treatment
• Programs for Caregivers

VI. WHAT AGENCIES, THE JUSTICE SYSTEM, AND COMMUNITIES CAN DO
What Agencies Can Do
General
Agency-Specific Practices

• APS Programs
• Domestic Violence Programs
• Health Care Facilities
• Providers of Home Health Care
• Legal Service Providers
• Dementia Care Programs
What the Justice System Can Do
What Communities Can Do
What Community Institutions Can Do

VII. WHAT STATES AND TRIBES ARE DOING
What States are Doing

• Ensuring that Professionals Report and Respond Appropriately
• Ensuring Justice
• Ensuring a Comprehensive, Coordinated Service Response
• Protecting Elders with Diminished Capacity and Those at Risk for Undue Influence
• Special Challenges
What Tribes are Doing

• Improving Coordination
• Ensuring Justice
• Training Professionals
• Meeting the Demand for Services

VIII. COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Goals of Outreach
The Impact of Outreach
Local, State, National, Tribal, and International Campaigns

IX. RESPONDING TO CHALLENGES
Defining Abuse
Responding to a Multicultural Society
Defining Capacity for Specific Tasks
Service Needs
Meeting the Challenge of "Consumer Choice"
Research Challenges and Needs
Professional Training Needs
Challenges to Coordination and Collaboration
Ethical Challenges

X. MOVING FORWARD
Guiding Principles
An Approach: Case Management
An Agenda
Appendix: Additional Resources

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Nerenberg provides the first comprehensive look at elder abuse prevention trends and strategies....She offers a meaningful response to the many challenges endemic to elder abuse work. As a result, Lisa gives hope to the field....Beginning as a grassroots advocate a quarter century ago in San Francisco. Lisa developed and tested many viable elder abuse prevention programs herself...before exploring best practices elsewhere. This unique evolution and perspective gives her the depth and breadth of understanding to write a book like this."—Georgia J. Anetzberger, PhD, ACSW, Assistant Professor of Health Care Administration at Cleveland State University, Editor of the Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect

"Elder Abuse Prevention engages the reader from the beginning and it never loses us. In the preface the author describes the 24 year journey that brought her to this publication. That cumulative knowledge and experience ignite the pages of this book. ...... so much to share ..so much insight .... so much passion. Each chapter resonates with a richness and depth of ideas, strategies, technologies and forward looking solutions. Each chapter provides theory, practice, research, intervention and prevention as a myriad of complex elder abuse issues are described. Nothing is left out: definitions, service models, ethical tensions, cultural factors, victims and perpetrators, the justice system, communities and community institutions (financial, academic, faith) states and tribes; its all here. The book is a labor of love that comes from the heart.

"Everyone interested in responding to elder abuse will want this book; it will inform, guide and inspire the direct work of those involved in the care of older people who are mistreated and hurting. Written for many disciplines, the book should be introduced to students early in their careers as a preparation for clinical experience.

"The book concludes with the author returning to the initial themes of collaboration, inclusiveness, and open exchange. We are reminded that it is only through 'the sharing of ideas, expertise and resources' can we become change agents. We've been given the knowledge; the challenge now is to put it into practice so that our compassion and skills can be mobilized to keep older people safe , informed, healthy, and out of harm's way."——Elizabeth Podnieks, Professor at Ryerson University, Toronto, and founder, Ontario Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse

"Lisa Nerenberg has written an instant classic on elder abuse and neglect for practitioners, researchers, program planners, policy makers, and lawmakers. This innovative and refreshing book is a major contribution from a professional who has worked in the field for over two decades. It advances the field by leaps and bounds.

"The book is engaging, comprehensive, forward-looking, and solidly based in both research and practice principles. It is easy to read because it is extremely well organized and written.... Not one to shrink from controversy, Ms. Nerenberg carefully outlines the issues involved with the never-ending struggle to define elder and neglect as well as the strengths and weaknesses of various forms of intervention and treatment.

"Throughout the book, Ms. Nerenberg uses a flexible lens, now focusing on the status and themes in the field and then examining issues in detail such as victim and abuser relationships, and the increasing understanding about levels of mental capacity. Her allegiance to and compassion for front line practitioners is a recurring thread throughout the book and she calls on researchers to base their work on practitioner perspectives. This book will have a very long shelf life and will serve to inspire us for years to come."
—Mary Joy Quinn, Director of the Probate Court of San Francisco Superior County, co-author (with Susan Tomita), Elder Abuse and Neglect: Diagnosis and Intervention Strategies (Springer Publishing, 1997), and author, Guardianships of Adults: Achieving Justice, Autonomy, and Safety (Springer Publishing, 2005).

"This book showcases Lisa Nerenberg's remarkable ability to organize very complex and complicated issues and present the information in a clear and logical way that makes it understandable without over simplifying. This book has something of interest for anyone involved or interested in elder abuse—for novices it offers a comprehensive overview and introduction to key issues; for the experienced it provides the historical context, big picture perspective, and new ways of looking at issues.

—Mary Counihan, MSW, APS Manager, San Francisco Department of Aging and Adult Services