BHE 415 - Community and Domestic Violence (Module 4-SLP) Essay

BHE 415 - Community and Domestic Violence (Module 4-SLP) - Essay Example The rate of physical violence towards the elderly people is more than the street violence and the studies have shown that elderly people are more likely to be harmed by family members than the strangers (Quinn & Tomita 1997 p33). The fact that most of the abuse is caused at the hands of children, spouse or close relatives make it shameful for the elders being abused to report it to the authorities. There are different reasons for not reporting the abuse and most of them are based on the fear of being exposed in the society. Some of the reasons that lead to not exposing the torture and the abuse are protection of the family privacy, embarrassment in front of people, humiliation, fear that they will be tortured more if the abuse is reported, a belief that they deserve the abuse and the fear that if the abuse is reported then they will be sent to the care center and hence lose the privacy of life (Elder Abuse Awareness n.d.). However, there are other reasons like elderly people being incapable of understanding that they are being abused. Elderly people suffering from mental problems like dementia and Alzheimer’s are not in position to understand that they are being abused(Quinn & Tomita 1997 p53). In the book, ‘Mental abuse and neglect’, a case of a elderly woman who was 78-year old and was a widow, is described. In this case, the elderly woman confused her son to be her husband and was being sexually exploited by her son. So even the physical and mental incapability of reporting the abuse is a cause of the abuse not getting reported. The short term consequences are mostly physical in nature like bruises over the body, scratches, scars