title: Elder mistreatment in U.S. residential care facilities: the scope of the problem.
abstract: Many in the United States believe elder mistreatment in long-term care is serious and widespread, but until recently few studies focused on the problem. This study was designed to describe the scope of mistreatment in assisted living facilities (ALFs) in Arizona during a 3-year period. Findings showed that receiving citations for elder mistreatment was relatively rare. However, analysis of narrative reports from only 7% of facilities showed 598 allegations of mistreatment in complaint investigations, of which 372 (62.2%) were substantiated and given citations for something other than mistreatment. Results show that elder mistreatment in ALFs is seriously underidentified, even by state inspectors.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095-1702, USA. lrphillips@sonnet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Linda R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Guifang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Haesook
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001130:Arizona; D040561:Assisted Living Facilities / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004552:Elder Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006276:Health Facility Size / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D018570:Risk Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires