A Community-Based Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study of Elder Abuse Perpetration or Victimization Among Elders in Ethiopia, 2022

BACKGROUND: Elderly abuse and comorbid problematic substance use, disability, and physical and mental illness have been major problems in low-income countries. In most countries, the elderly are the most neglected segment of the population, and there is insufficient information about elderly abuse perpetration or victimization in low-income countries like Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess elderly abuse perpetration or victimization among the elderly in Mizan Aman town, southwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among 268 elderly people from May to June, 2021, by using a systematic sampling technique. The elderly abuse and the ASSIST tools were used to assess the elderly abuse and khat, alcohol, cannabis, and tobacco use disorders, respectively. Moreover, multimorbidity and physical disability were also assessed. Data were entered into EpiData version 3.1 and exported to the Statistical Package for Social Science Version 23. A logistic regression model was used to identify independent predictors of elderly abuse. RESULTS: The prevalence of elder abuse was 41.8%, and the prevalence of poly substance, alcohol, khat, and tobacco use disorder was 32.5%, 19.4%, 12%, and 4.5%, respectively. Besides, the comorbidity of physical disability and multiple chronic diseases was 8% and 24.6%, respectively. Moreover, physical disability (AOR = 5.652, CI = 1.459, 21.894), multimorbidity (AOR = 3.972, CI = 1.898, 8.314), substance use disorder (AOR = 3.877, CI = 1.814, 8.286), age above 80 years (AOR = 8.452, CI = 2.273, 31.425), and poor social support (AOR = 3.372, CI = 1.043, 10.903) were positively associated with elderly abuse. CONCLUSION: The magnitude of elder abuse and comorbid multimorbidity, physical disability, and substance use disorder was high, and having multiple chronic diseases, physical disability, substance use disorder, advanced age, and poor social support were risk factors for elderly abuse.