Prevalence study of abuse and violence against older women: results of a multi-cultural survey conducted in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Lithuania, and Portugal

Introduction • The study included women aged between 60 and 97 years who were living in private households. The survey asked about violence and abuse in the last 12 months. 2880 women were surveyed across five countries during 2010. • So-called “stranger violence” was ruled out and only perpetrators who were in the women's close circles were considered. • Response rates ranged from 26.1% (Belgium) to 49.1% (Austria). Prevalence of violence and abuse • Overall, 28.1% of older women had experienced some kind of violence or abuse. By country the prevalence rates were as follows: • Portugal 39.4% (postal survey) • Belgium 32.0% (postal survey and face-to-face interviews) • Finland 25.1% (postal survey) • Austria 23.8% (telephone survey (CATI)) • Lithuania 21.8% (face-to-face interviews) • Generally, emotional abuse was the most common form of violence experienced (23.6%) followed by financial abuse (8.8%), violation of rights (6.4%) and neglect (5.4%). Sexual abuse (3.1%) and physical violence (2.5%) were the least reported forms. Perpetrators • In most cases, perpetrators of emotional abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse and violation of rights were the women's partners or spouses. The exception to this was in relation to neglect, where in most cases older women were abused by their adult children or children-in-law. Intensity of violence • 7.6% of older women had experienced a single form of abuse, but infrequently. • 13.5% had experienced several forms of abuse, but infrequently. • 1.2% had experienced a single form of abuse very often. • 5.8% had experienced multiple forms of abuse very often. Prevalence Study of Abuse and Violence against Older Women – Final Report 8 Risk factors • There were considerable differences between countries with regard to prevalence rates. However, connections between risk factors and abuse and violence were apparent regardless of country. • The likelihood of abuse is lower in higher age groups. • There was a significant association between abuse and violence and reduced physical health, poor mental health, managing poorly with household income, not participating in social activities, living with spouse or partner or with adult children, and loneliness. After the abuse • The most common effects of violence and abuse were tension, anger, hatred and feelings of powerlessness. • Nearly half of the abused women (44.7%) talked with somebody they knew about the most serious incident or reported it to an official agency. In Portugal and Lithuania, however, only a quarter of the abused women talked about the incident with anyone else. • The majority of older women did not talk with anybody else about the abusive incident(s). Mostly women thought the incident was too trivial to report or discuss or considered that nobody could do anything about the situation. Quality of Life • In relation to abuse in overall terms, the findings are unambiguous: older women who had experienced any kind of abuse reported having significantly lower quality of life than older women who had not experienced abuse.Daphne II

Report on update of design for all and design for all related higher education and research policies in eu member countries and USA

This deliverable presents state of the art in Design for All education and research strategies and policies in EU member countries. These findings are complemented with considerations on respective strategies in USA. The report identifies key issues to be further discussed and developed to produce recommendations for further development of DfA related strategies and policies in Europe

Analysis and recommendations on Design for All related higher education and research policies in EU member countries

The report includes recommendations for further development of DfA related strategies and policies in Europe, based on the analysis of the state of the art in Design for All education and research strategies and policies in EU member countries, complemented with considerations on respective strategies in the USA

Report of the PE pilot cases on Societal Challenges : Deliverable 3.2

PE2020 project

Perpetrators of abuse against older women: A multi-national study in Europe

Purpose - This article aims to explore the perpetrators of abuse among older women living in the community. The study examines whether differences between the perpetrators of different forms of abuse, and for different groups of older women (e.g. by income or age groups) can be detected. Finally, it aims to investigate whether older women talk about the abuse to family or friends, or report it to an official or formal agency, in relation to different perpetrators. Design/methodology/approach - This article provides results from the prevalence study of Abuse and Violence against Older Women in Europe (AVOW-study). The study involved scientific partners from five EU countries: Finland, Austria, Belgium, Lithuania, and Portugal. In these five countries, the same study was conducted during 2010. In total, 2,880 older women living in the community were interviewed during the course of the study. Findings - The results indicate that 28.1per cent of older women across all countries have experienced some kind of violence and abuse, in the last 12 months, by someone who is close to them. The results offer specific figures for the prevalence of different types of abuse, i.e. physical, psychological, sexual, and financial abuse; violation of personal rights; and neglect. Furthermore, additional insights about the main perpetrators of abuse for different groups of older women are offered. Research limitations/implications - The article does not address the differences between the five countries. Further research could examine the between-country variations and identify possible country-specific explanations. Practical implications - The implications of these findings for the development of policy and practice are highlighted. Applying only a crime-focused approach on this topic is not sufficient. Health and social welfare sectors play a key role in ensuring dignity in, and quality of, formal and informal care and need to be supported to do so. Originality/value - The paper presents the findings of an extensive multi-national(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

European map of prevalence rates of elder abuse and its impact for future research

This article aims to map existing prevalence research on abuse and neglect of older people and to provide a critical overview of existing methodologies, which have been adopted to survey the prevalence rates of abuse against elders. This article is part of the prevalence study of Abuse and Violence against Older Women (AVOW) study, which was conducted in five European countries (Austria, Belgium, Finland, Lithuania, and Portugal). The article provides an overview of the state of the art of prevalence data, survey designs and methods, instruments and results in Europe. Therefore, this draws on an extensive literature search and qualitative content analysis, which was conducted as an early part of the AVOW study. Results indicate that some EU countries have a rich history of prevalence research, whereas other countries have just begun to tackle this aspect of research on of elder abuse. One of the lacunae concerns reliable numbers on the prevalence rates of elder abuse. Research about where, when and how often elder abuse occurs, is inadequate and inconsistent. Data in some cases are based on professionals’ reports rather than on information from older people themselves. Surveying elders about such a sensitive topic, however, implies the need for an adequate research instrument (questionnaire) and research design, and an adapted data collection method. In conclusion, substantial attention is paid to outlining possible guidelines for future research