Elderly people at risk: a Norwegian model for community education and response
| Date | 01 November 2004 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14668203200400017 |
| Pages | 26-33 |
| Published date | 01 November 2004 |
| Author | Olaug Juklestad |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Sociology |
26 © Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) Limited The Journal of Adult Protection Volume 6 Issue 3 • November 2004
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Introduction
This paper reports on the experience from a programme in
Norway that has worked to accumulate and disseminate
information about elder abuse in order to increase public
awareness of this problem. The intention was that elderly
victims of abuse at home could receive help. The paper will
describe some aspects of the work in progress, highlighting
the issue of elder abuse from its start until today. It will also
briefly cover other practical measures that have arisen and
which have a bearing on work relating to victims of violence
in general.
Norway is an affluent country with about four and a half
million inhabitants (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2003). It has a
highly developed social welfare system with a reasonably wide
range of services. It has a child welfare system on a par with
the best in other countries. Norway is also well advanced in
the field of support for battered and abused women. As an
example, the first helpline for battered women was established
as early as 1977 (Jonassen et al, 2003). However, very few
elderly women contacted crisis centres, and still do not, as
these were and are perceived as being for younger women,
particularly those with small children.
We like to think that our welfare service is so advanced
that few can equal it. But in the field of elder abuse we have a
long way to go, at least in comparison with the USA.
Compared with other Scandinavian and most European
countries, however, we are ahead. It is through information
Elderly people at risk: a
Norwegian model for
community education and
response Olaug Juklestad
Senior Adviser, Norwegian Resource Centre for
Information and Studies on Violence, Oslo
University College
Research paper
key words
elder abuse
Norway
improved knowledge
victims of violence
public awareness
abstract
Awareness of the problem of
elder abuse was aroused in Norway
in the early 1980s.A pilot project
conducted between 1991 and 1994,
described here, established an
important body of knowledge based
on casework. Central authorities
believe that improved knowledge
and competence will result in local
change and further development to
help the victims of violence.
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