In this reflection paper I will be talking about Elderly Abuse happening in nursing homes and addressing what has or hasn’t changed. Additionally, I will be sharing personal experiences and examples from scholarly articles that I’ve researched. Growing up I was always in and out nursing homes because my Nana was sick throughout the entirety of my life. Almost every family visit consisted of my family and I visiting my Nana in a nursing home facility.
My Nana was being mistreated while in the nursing home, which resulted in bed sores, and open wounds that had to be addressed. Every time my Nana complained, the staff never did anything about it. The CNAs and nursing staff were not turning her in the bed the way they were supposed to, nor coming in and checking on her regularly. Due to this mistreatment, my Nana suffered both emotional and physical neglect and abuse resulting in severe bed sores that later got infected, which caused even more health issues for her.
My grandfather and the rest of my family made a decision to move our beloved Nana to a different nursing home; one that at first was doing everything right, or so it seemed. As weeks began to go by, the nursing staff at this second home started engaging in the same kind of poor work habits, and showed the lack of ethical behavior that had occurred in the first nursing home; such as, not turning my Nana multiple times throughout the day, and failing to come into her room to check on her as often as necessary to prevent pressure sores on her body and her feet.
Seeing the effects of elder abuse on my Nana as a kid and continuing to see this type of mistreatment of my Nana as I got older made me want to do more for people who are going through this. This is actually one of the main reasons I wanted to be a social worker. I truly enjoy advocating for what’s right and advocating for people who cannot advocate for themselves.
While researching two sources to include in my reflection, I came across several articles about elderly abuse in nursing homes and how it has changed, as well as what has not changed. My goal is to help others become aware of what is going on in some nursing homes, and to help prevent these things from happening in the future to our loved ones and the loved ones of others.
The first source I have found is called, Nursing Aides’ Attitudes of Elder Abuse in Nursing Homes: The Effect of Work Stressors and Burnout by Shiri Shinan-Altman (2009). The second source that I found is called Justification for Punishing Crimes against the Elderly: Perceptions of Police Chiefs, Nursing Home Professionals, and Students by, Brian K. Payne (2003). I came across a lot of good information in both articles that I could speak on but I am only going to bring up a few points.
Shinan-Altman (2009) reported that the World Health Organization defined elder abuse as “a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust and which causes harm or distress to an older person”. I found that this definition also included three forms of abuse, which are sexual, physical and psychological abuse. My Nana was suffering from physical and psychological abuse by the nursing staff at the nursing home, so this really stood out to me.
Abuse happening to the elderly has now become a social problem according to the article. I think it is important for employees and their employer to recognize when someone is bringing their outside problems to the workplace in an effort to prevent mistreatment of elderly patients. Shinan-Altman’s article discussed stressors, staff burnout, and how sometimes outside stress gets brought inside the workplace, which is often taken out on patients (Shinan-Altman, 2009). This is not okay! People in nursing homes already go through so much, like coping with having to be there in the first place. My Nana was not a fan of going to a skilled nursing facility, let alone being mistreated by the CNAs or other nursing staff because of an outside problem.
As I took a look at Payne’s article, I noticed some of the same things I saw in Shinan-Altman’s article, as well as some things that were new. I learned that regularly cases like this do not get reported and nothing is done. This also reminded me of my Nana, because as many times as we said something and reported them, it still did not change the manner in which she was handled. The administration had excuse after excuse, like staff being short, not enough nurses to pass meds, cleaning staff, and so much more. Just thinking about my experience and writing about it, brings me to tears. We even hired someone to sit in her room until my grandfather got off work. But we were only able to afford so many hours per day.
The lack of staffing, the numerous falls, the staff’s failure to feed my Nana, who couldn’t feed herself, and had a note above her stating “must feed this patient”, and other concerning issues, all contributed to us moving her from nursing home to a third nursing home, and then another. It makes you wonder if any good nursing facilities really exist, especially since my grandparents were wealthy and able to afford what was supposed to be quality care.
Payne (2003) states, “Early statistics suggested that 1 to 2 million people are victims of elder abuse each year” (p. 34). It is extremely sad that the above mentioned statistic is the unfortunate reality faced by many of our loved ones who are supposed to be taken care of. The thought of my parents aging and declining in their ability to care for themselves to a point where even my ability to take care of them becomes inadequate scares me based on the literature and our family’s past experiences. My hope is that people like myself can hopefully make a difference when it comes to taking care of people they way they deserve to be cared for when you reach a stage in your life that requires being cared for.
A frightening revelation for me from Payne’s (2003) article was that although some “criminal acts against the elderly are considered cases of elderly abuse, not all cases that cause emotional harm to the elderly violate the criminal statues” (p, 35). Although the criminal justice system can help with trying to prevent or minimize elder abuse, the fact is that “offenders are often overly stressed with increasing caregiving required by the victim which leads to abuse” (Payne, 2003).
I love my grandfather, and I know he loved my Nana, but I was often frustrated with him as he often raised his voice at my Nana. My mother went to help as often as she could trying to balance her role as a wife, mother, and daughter. She even tried to get custody of her Mother to bring her to Springfield with us. But with her mother being married, the police said if she took her mother without Nana’s husbands’ consent, it would be considered kidnapping. Then there goes her degree and certifications to be gainfully employed to take care of her immediate family. These are issues I would like to help other families navigate finding a legal recourse that would benefit all parties, and more importantly, their loved one in need of quality care.
In conclusion, I think it is fair to say that there isn’t enough being done in the world today to help prevent elderly abuse from happening. The stress of caring for a loved one who requires nursing care in a skilled nursing facility, and the limited resources and staffing available in skilled nursing facilities needs to be addressed in a manner that doesn’t cause harm to elderly patients and promotes an increased understanding of human behavior and consequences associated with abuse for caregivers (Payne, 2003). This can be achieved by current and future social workers like myself by advocating for what is right.
Reference Page
Payne, B. (2003). Justification for punishing crimes against the Elderly: Perceptions
of police chiefs, nursing home professionals, and students. Journal of Offender
Rehabilitation, 38(1), pp. 33-51.
https://doi.org/10.1080/08946566.2011.558798
Shinan-Altman, S. & Cohen, M. (2009). Nursing Aides’ Attitudes to Elder Abuse in
Nursing Homes: The Effect of Work Stressors and Burnout. The Gerontologist,
49( 5), pp. 674–684.
https://doi-org.ezproxy.uis.edu/10.1093/geront/gnp093
Much of the state budget goes to human services. Many of those human services involve the treatment and care of persons who are elderly or disabled. These persons depend on staff to take are of them, and if the budgets for such care become slashed, what do you think will happen? I wish people who complain about Illinois spending would look at the state budget and point out where we can cut money that will not result in a deterioration in services for the elderly, the persons with disabilities, or persons with mental illnesses. Will people still be kept clean, and fed, and cared for? Will overworked and overstressed family members still get respite care? The state’s budget going to health services generally cannot be cut, and neither can child protective services (because our state operates child protective services under a court order that forces those services to be delivered at a certain level of quality). Cuts to K-12 education are unpopular, and the state has already cut the higher education by more than half since I was hired by the University of Illinois over 20 years ago. It is the human services that get cut. I wish people would read your reaction essay and then look over the state budget when they object to the spending in the state of Illinois. They usually do not know what they are talking about.
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