Debra K. Showers
Kaplan University
Elderly Abuse and Neglect in Nursing Homes Are nursing homes abusing and neglecting the elderly? The elderly are abused and neglected in society today by caregivers in nursing homes. Elder abuse or neglect is a single or repeated action occurring within any relationship where there is an overlook of trust which causes injury or distress to an older person. The elderly are our foundation and our youth are the building blocks to our nation. Some elderly have no medical problems, some are autistic, and many are handicapped. Nursing homes are a place where the elderly can live when their families do not have the resources or the extra time to care for them appropriately. My research is about deficiencies showing abuse and neglect in nursing homes and how facilities can improve the quality of the care they provide to the resident. I will show evidence of abuse and neglect through other studies and what I can do to help prevent it so they will be a place where the elderly wouldn’t mind moving into because of diminutive resources. My research involves looking at different articles on what researchers did as far as going into nursing homes and finding out what was needed to make them a better place for the elderly to live. When we think of nursing homes our first impression is smelly, ugly and old people. The truth is they are only smelly because that is the level of care they get and they are ugly because that is how we as the younger generation perceive them. Just because a person is ugly and old does not make them a nightmare or a misfit. Sometimes the ugliness is because of the beauty they held when they were younger and worked hard to have nice things and worked hard for their families. Just because they have wrinkles and their faces have changed with the winds of time does not make them ugly. It
References: North, M. and Fiske, S. (2012). An Inconvenienced Youth? Ageism and Its Potential Intergenerational Roots. American Psychological Association 2012, Vol. 138, No. 5, 982–997 DOI: 10.1037/a0027843 982 Retrieved from the internet at http://www.apa.org/rss/ Phelan, A. (2008). Elder abuse, ageism, human rights and citizenship: implications for nursing discourse. Nursing Inquiry 2008; 15: 320–329. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19076708 Wolf, R, Daichman, L., Bennett, G. (2002). World Report on Violence and Health - Abuse of the Elderly. An Article retrieved on October 12, 2012 on the internet at http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2002/9241545615_chap5_eng.pdf