Dive Brief:
- A new study involving 142 older patients at a large academic medical center in New York has concluded that verbal mistreatment of seniors by caregivers is surprisingly common.
- Thirty-eight percent of the seniors, who were polled by computer to ensure privacy, reported at least one incident of verbal mistreatment from their primary caregivers—be they family members or paid professionals—in the past year.
- The group that reported that a caregiver had yelled, sworn, or threatened at least once the past year had significantly lower social functioning and poorer mental health than those that reported no verbal mistreatment.
Dive Insight:
While studies looking at this issue have found different levels of reported caregiver verbal use, many have found that at least some abuse takes place, and that the seniors involved were the worse for wear. Providers clearly have a role in spotting this red flag and helping families in crisis, as even a small amount of verbal abuse seems to inflict great harm.