Family Preservation: An Unidentified Approach in Elder Abuse Protection

Abstract

Currently family preservation is not recognized as a viable approach in elder abuse practice. Yet most elder abuse in domestic settings is perpetrated by family members, and, in cases in which elders are being abused by family members, many times elders choose not to change their living situations. For this article, the author reexamined findings from a 1996 exploratory study the author conducted of decisional factors used by New Hampshire's elder protection service workers to explore the role family preservation had in their elder abuse practice. By comparing the decisional factors found in the original study to an index the author created of characteristics of a family preservation model, several factors were identified as characteristics of a family preservation approach. The findings reveal participants used, to a certain extent, a family preservation approach with little agency and community service provider support. The author concluded that further research should be conducted to see if the family preservation model would help in identifying a universal practice model in elder abuse work to more clearly address some of the complexities of providing intervention to the elderly suffering from domestic violence.