See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil? Underreporting of abuse in care homes

Pages303-317
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JAP-07-2016-0014
Published date12 December 2016
Date12 December 2016
AuthorSteve Moore
Subject MatterHealth & social care,Vulnerable groups,Adult protection,Safeguarding,Sociology,Sociology of the family,Abuse
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil?
Underreporting of abuse in care homes
Steve Moore
Steve Moore is a
Commissioner at Dudley
Metropolitan Borough Council,
Dudley, UK.
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present some of the findings from an empirical, mixed
methods research project that reveal underreporting and active concealment of abuse in private sector
care homes.
Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 36 care home
personnel. An anonymously completed questionnaire was also used concurrently among newly appointed
staff in newly opened care homes, to elicit additional quantitative and qualitative data.
Findings A significant number of respondents reported awareness of acts of abuse that had not been
reported within the care home or externally to the authorities. Some respondents were aware that where
occurrences of abuse had been reported, no subsequent action was taken, and external authorities were not
always involved in responses to abuse. A significant number of respondents were aware of deliberate
strategies used to deter reports of abuse to external agencies.
Research limitations/implications Though the research draws upon the experiences of only 36 care
home personnel through interviews, and 94 questionnaire respondents who had witnessed occurrences of
abuse, data suggest that a significant proportion of abuse in care homes remains unreported.
Originality/value The research has revealed staffsexperiences of underreporting of abuse in private
sector care homes. Findings indicate that changes are required to current methods of scrutiny of
occurrences of abuse in care homes and the strengthening of incentives to report it.
Keywords Older people, Abuse, Policy and practice, Adults at risk, Empirical research, Care homes
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
A previous paper (Moore, 2016) presented the results and conclusions from one component of a
mixed methods research project exploring the abuse of older people in private sector care
homes. The data set out in that paper were obtained by means of an anonymous questionnaire
distributed to newly appointed care staff in five newly opened care homes for older people.
The complementary method, conducted concurrently with the anonymous questionnaire, was a
semi-structured interview with 36 personnel in 12 care homes for older people (12 proprietors,
12 managers and 12 care staff).
Findings from the anonymous questionnaire component of the research confirmed that abuse
continues to occur in contemporary care homes for older people, and can take many forms,
including abuse that in some cases is premeditated and particularly cruel.
This paper describes additional findings from the research project, drawn from both methods of
data collection. These findings confirm that not all abuse occurring in care homes is reported,
both within and external to the organisation, and that strategies are sometimes deliberately
employed to suppress reporting.
Received 11 July 2016
Revised 24 September 2016
1 October 2016
Accepted 4 October 2016
DOI 10.1108/JAP-07-2016-0014 VOL. 18 NO. 6 2016, pp. 303-317, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1466-8203
j
THE JOURNAL OF ADULT PROTECTION
j
PAG E 30 3

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