Citation

Policastro C, Payne BK. J. Elder Abuse Negl. 2014; 26(1): 12-30.

Affiliation

Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology , Georgia Southern University , Statesboro , Georgia , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/08946566.2013.784070

PMID

24313795

Abstract

Elder abuse is a multifaceted problemthat requires interdisciplinary prevention and intervention strategies. An important question that arises is whether professionals are adequately prepared to address elder abuse in this collaborative network. Unfortunately, no studies have been conducted to assess the varying levels of knowledge that preprofessionals enrolled in university courses possess with regard to elder abuse. To fill this void, this study assesses the levels of elder abuse awareness among social work, nursing, health professions, and criminal justice students. Specific attention is given to determining whether there are differences in the amount of exposure to elder abuse literature across the disciplines. The study involves the analysis of survey data collected from 202 students enrolled in health and human sciences classes at a large university. Results show that none of the preprofessional groups, on average, reported knowing enough about elder abuse. Implications for future practice and research are provided.

Language: en