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Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine logoLink to Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
. 2000 Feb;93(2):67–71. doi: 10.1177/014107680009300205

Elder abuse: do general practitioners know or care?

C McCreadie 1, G Bennett 1, M S Gilthorpe 1, G Houghton 1, A Tinker 1
PMCID: PMC1288067  PMID: 10740572

Abstract

A pilot survey in Tower Hamlets, London, indicated that many general practitioners (GPs) might not be recognizing abuse of elderly patients through lack of training. The survey was replicated on a large scale in Birmingham, to allow further analysis. 561 Birmingham GPs were mailed questionnaires and responses from 291 were analysed, providing data from 95% of the practices. The findings were similar to those in Tower Hamlets: just under half had diagnosed elder abuse in the previous year. Regression analysis of the combined data-sets (n = 363) indicated that the strongest factor predicting GP diagnosis of abuse was knowledge of 5 or more risk situations (odds ratio 6.77, 95% confidence interval 4.19, 10.93). The findings of these surveys suggest that research-based education and training would help GPs to become better at identifying and managing elder abuse.

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Selected References

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