REAGERA-S (Responding to Elder Abuse in GERiAtric care - Self-administered

Date

2020

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect

Abstract

Screening for experiences of elder abuse and life-time abuse in older adults. The instrument includes 9 brief questions (dichotomous yes or no answers) about experiences of abuse and one question to evaluate current suffering. The instrument is ‘self-administered’ and it is therefore the older adults themselves who is asked to fill in the form. As a user, you undertake a subjective assessment to determine whether the person who is to fill in the form has sufficiently high cognitive function and sufficient linguistic ability to understand the questions. If the older adult has difficulty reading and filling in the form, for example because of a visual impairment, it is also possible to read the questions aloud to them. If the older adult gives an affirmative answer to any of the questions in REAGERA-S, it is very important that this is followed up with a conversation about what he or she has experienced and that any requirements in terms of help and support are identified. It is not possible to determine how serious the abuse was, or whether the person is currently suffering because of it, by only looking at the answers on the form. This is because REAGERA-S has a lifetime perspective and captures both serious and less serious forms of abuse. This instrument was developed as a part of the REAGERA (Responding to Elder Abuse in GERiAtric care) project in Linköping, Sweden. It has been validated among patients (age 65 and older) admitted to a hospital in Sweden and using an interview as the gold standard. The original language is Swedish but the instrument has been translated to English by a professional translator and then backtranslated into Swedish (Author Abstract).

Description

Keywords

survey instrument, survey, elder abuse, elder maltreatment, elder mistreatment, older adults, life-time abuse, identifying abuse, self-administered surveys, elderly individuals, geriatrics, serious abuse, victimization, elderly victims, responding to elder abuse

Citation

Simmons, J., Wiklund, N., Ludvigsson, M., Nägga, K., & Swahnberg, K. (2020) Validation of REAGERA-S [Instrument]: A new self-administered instrument to identify elder abuse and lifetime experiences of abuse in hospitalized older adults, Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 32(2), 173-195, DOI: 10.1080/08946566.2020.1737614

DOI