Elder Mistreatment and Dementia: A Comparison of People with and without Dementia across the Prevalence of Abuse

Abstract

This paper examines the prevalence of different types of elder mistreatment, care needs, and risk factors amongst older adults living with and without dementia in any setting (community or institution). Three years (2014–2017) of anonymized reported incidents of elder mistreatment to a national UK helpline were examined in an exploratory study, using a matched sample design ( N = 598) comparing adults with dementia ( n = 299) to those without ( n = 299) on mistreatment type, care needs, and risk factors for abuse. Financial exploitation was more common among older adults with dementia who required more daily care than those without. Risk factors for elder mistreatment among older adults without dementia were often chronic in nature (such as poor physical health) whereas risk factors for people with dementia were associated with a dementia diagnosis. Raising implications for health and social care, results show that older adults diagnosed with dementia had increased care needs and vulnerability to abuse.