title: The prevalence of potentially abusive behaviours in family caregiving: findings from a national survey of family carers of older people.
abstract: family caregiving can be both rewarding and fulfilling; however, conflicts can occur in the caregiving relationship, and some family carers may engage in behaviours that could be potentially harmful to the older person for whom them provide care.
  
  
  
  to determine the prevalence of potentially abusive behaviours towards older people by family carers.
  
  
  
  a postal cross-sectional survey of a nationally representative sample of family carers of community-dwelling older people.
  
  
  
  a randomly selected sample of family carers in receipt of a social welfare payment for the care they provide to a relative aged 65 and older.
  
  
  
  a self-completion questionnaire was posted to 4,000 family carers of older people across Ireland, and a total of 2,311 eligible completed questionnaires were returned, yielding a response rate of 58%.
  
  
  
  more than a third of family carers (36.8%) reported that they engaged in potentially harmful behaviours towards their older family member in the 3 months prior to the survey. Of those potentially harmful behaviours, a third (35.9%) reported that they engaged in potentially harmful psychological behaviours and 8% reported engaging in potentially harmful physical behaviours.
  
  
  
  potentially abusive carer behaviours need to be detected at an early stage so that preventive interventions can be introduced to avert caregiving situations deteriorating into serious cases of elder abuse.
authors.affiliation: UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery and Heath Systems, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Attracta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lafferty
authors.affiliation: UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery and Heath Systems, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fealy
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Carmel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Downes
authors.affiliation: Centre for Innovation and Leadership in Health Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Drennan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004552:Elder Abuse / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: caregiving; elder abuse; family carers; older people; potentially harmful behaviours