title: Emergency health care personnel's knowledge and experience of elder abuse in Izmir.
abstract: The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of emergency health care provider teams toward the identification and management of abused older people. This cross-sectional analytic study was conducted in four hospitals with emergency medical service. One hundred twenty five emergency room health care personnel in Izmir filled out a questionnaire. Of the respondents, 13.6% had never identified an abused older person. Health care personnel working at a university emergency department had a better knowledge base of elder abuse. Most of the participants felt uncomfortable in asking questions about older people abuse. A majority of them reported that it is difficult to properly intervene on the patient's behalf. Most of the participants perceived elder abuse to be uncommon in Turkey. Generally, older people abuse is unrecognized by health care providers; an extensive training and education effort needs to be developed and implemented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, Halk Sagligi, 35100 Bornova, Izmir, Turkey. aliye.mandiracioglu@ege.edu.tr
authors.forename: Aliye
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mandiracioglu
authors.forename: Figen
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Govsa
authors.forename: Semra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Celikli
authors.forename: Gul Ozlem
authors.initials: GO
authors.lastname: Yildirim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004552:Elder Abuse / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D000078329:Workforce