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Resident-to-Resident Abuse: A Scoping Review*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2015

Lynn McDonald ,
Christine Sheppard ,
Sander L. Hitzig ,
Tal Spalter ,
Avantika Mathur  and
Jason Singh Mukhi
Lynn McDonald*
Affiliation:
Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Life Course and Aging, University of Toronto
Christine Sheppard
Affiliation:
Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto
Sander L. Hitzig
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Life Course and Aging, University of Toronto
Tal Spalter
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Life Course and Aging, University of Toronto
Avantika Mathur
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Life Course and Aging, University of Toronto
Jason Singh Mukhi
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Life Course and Aging, University of Toronto
*
†La correspondance et les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à: / Correspondence and requests for offprints should be sent to: Dr. Lynn McDonald Institute for Life Course & Aging 263 McCaul Street, Room 328 Toronto, ON M5T 1W7 (lynn.mcdonald@utoronto.ca)
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Abstract

Resident-to-resident abuse involves aggression and violence that occurs between long-term care (LTC) home residents and can have serious consequences for both aggressors and victims. To date, there has been no attempt to systematically assess the breadth of the problem in Canada. To address this gap, we undertook a scoping review to enhance understanding of resident-to-resident abuse in LTC homes. A redacted Canadian data set on resident-to-resident abuse is also reported on. Nine electronic literature databases were searched; a total of 784 abstracts were identified, but only 32 satisfied the inclusion criteria. The majority of records (75%) were retrospective case studies, qualitative studies, and reviews/commentaries. Of these, only 14 focused exclusively on resident-to-resident abuse. The redacted Canadian data set suggests resident-to-resident abuse makes up approximately one-third of reported abuse cases. Recommendations for future research, clinical practice, and policy are provided to raise awareness of this phenomenon to help decrease its incidence.

Résumé

L'abus de résidents par d'autres résidents parmi de foyers de soins de longue durée (SLD) implique l'agressivité et la violence et peut avoir des conséquences graves pour tous les deux, agresseurs et victimes. Jusqu'à présent, il n'y a eu aucune tentative d'évaluer systématiquement la portée de ce problème au Canada. Pour combler cette lacune, nous avons entrepris une étude de délimitation de l'étendue pour améliorer la compréhension de l'abus chez les résidents des foyers de SLD. Nous présentons aussi un ensemble redigé de données canadiennes sur l'abus chez les résidents. On a cherché neuf bases de données bibliographiques électroniques; un total de 784 résumés a été trouvés, mais seulement 32 ont satisfait les critères d'inclusion. La majorité des documents (75 pour cent) étaient des études de cas rétro-perspectives, des études qualitatives et critiques/commentaires. Parmi eux, seuls 14 se consacrent exclusivement à l'abus parmi les résidents. L'ensemble redigé de données canadiennes suggère que l'abus des résidents par d'autres résidents représente environ un tiers des cas d'abus signalés. Afin de faire connaître cette phénomène et d'aider à diminuer son incidence, des recommandations pour la recherche future, la pratique clinique et la politique sont fournis.

Keywords

agingassaultive behaviourelder abuse/prevention and controllong-term carerisk factorsscoping reviewvieillissmentcomportement aggressifprévention et contrôle de la violence faite aux aînéssoins de longue duréeéléments du risqueétude de délimitation de l'étendue
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 215 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2015 

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Footnotes

*

We thank Steve Bandera, associate producer, and Litsa Sourtzis, producer/director, from CTV W5 for providing us with the redacted Canadian data on resident-to-resident abuse.

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