Comparative study on perceived abuse and social neglect among rural and urban geriatric population

CONTEXT: Elder abuse and social neglect are unrecognized problem. Many forms of elder abuse exist including physical, psychological, financial, sexual and social neglect. Social neglect is experienced by elderly through loss of friends and family members. AIM: Comparison of perceived abuse and social neglect among elderly residing in selected rural and urban areas. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Study setting was a rural area Pohir and urban area Jamalpur of district Ludhiana. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A sample of 200 subjects (100 subjects each from rural and urban area respectively) of age 60 years and above was drawn by cluster sampling technique and interview method was used to collect data by using Likert scale. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Descriptive and inferential statistics were carried out with SPSS package. RESULTS: Results of the present study revealed that perceived physical abuse (25%) was higher among elderly residing in rural and it was found significantly higher among female elderly who were illiterate, widow/widower and partially dependent on caregiver whereas perceived psychological abuse (71%), financial abuse (37%) and social neglect (74%) were higher among elderly residing in urban. A significant association was found between psychological abuse and educational status, which inferred that as the level of education increases perception of psychological abuse also increases. The perceived financial abuse was significantly higher among male elderly who were financially independent. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that social neglect was most common, followed by psychological abuse and financial abuse among elderly residing in urban whereas physical abuse was more prevalent among elderly residing in rural.