Australia’s population is aging, and the importance of strengthening systems to meet the needs and protect the rights of older people has become more pressing. This includes protection from abuse and neglect. While dedicated efforts to understand and address elder abuse have grown over the past 20 years, there are ongoing gaps in understanding of the perpetration and perpetrators of elder abuse, which the current report begins to address by collating the findings of existing Australian and international research.
The report canvasses key findings about the prevalence of elder abuse, the prevalence and co occurrence of different forms of elder abuse—including financial abuse and its indicators— and risk factors, perpetrator characteristics and motives and perpetrator interventions. Notable gaps in this evidence base include an absence of Australian research on many aspects of elder abuse perpetration; a dearth of research that draws on data collected from perpetrators, directly examining their motives for perpetrating abuse and the details and tactics of their abuse; and a lack of rigorous research on the effectiveness of interventions for perpetrators. There are also significant gaps in research on the perpetration and perpetrators of elder abuse in populations of special interest, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and culturally and linguistically diverse, LGBTIQ+ and rural/remote populations.
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