BACKGROUND Elder abuse is a global public health and human rights problem that is predicted to increase as many countries experience a rapid growth in their population of older adults. Elder abuse undermines an older person's well-being and is associated with a range of serious health consequences. In institutional care settings, older residents are particularly vulnerable and hence at higher risk of being abused, but few countries have explored the extent and nature of this phenomenon in national studies. The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence of observed and perpetrated staff-to-resident abuse in Norwegian nursing homes. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional exploratory study of nursing staff in 100 randomly drawn Norwegian nursing homes. Nursing staff completed a pen and paper survey measuring how often during the past year they had observed staff commit acts of neglect and psychological, physical, financial/material, and sexual abuse towards residents. They also reported how often they had perpetrated acts of abuse themselves, and these rates were disaggregated by nursing staff's gender, age and education. RESULTS Of 3693 nursing staff (response rate 60.1%), 76% had observed one or more incidents of elder abuse during the past year, and 60.3% reported they had perpetrated one or more incidents of abuse in the same period. Psychological abuse and neglect were most commonly reported. Male staff reported more acts of physical abuse, while female staff reported more acts of neglect. Higher education of staff was associated with higher rates of self-reported psychological abuse, physical abuse and neglect. CONCLUSIONS This first national survey of staff in Norwegian nursing homes is one of the largest studies globally estimating the prevalence of elder abuse in institutional settings. Overall, we found staff-to-resident abuse to be relatively common, and our findings propose a need for preventive strategies to improve the quality of life and safety of residents in Norwegian nursing homes.

中文翻译：

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挪威疗养院中的老年人虐待：一项横断面探索性研究。

背景技术虐待老年人是全球公共卫生和人权问题，随着许多国家的老年人口迅速增长，虐待老年人的问题预计会增加。虐待老年人会损害老年人的健康，并带来一系列严重的健康后果。在机构照料​​环境中，年纪较大的居民特别容易受到伤害，因此遭受虐待的风险更高，但是很少有国家在国家研究中探讨这种现象的程度和性质。这项研究的目的是估计挪威养老院中观察到的和实施的员工对居民的虐待情况。方法我们对100个随机抽取的挪威养老院的护理人员进行了横断面探索性研究。护理人员完成了纸笔调查，以衡量他们在过去一年中观察到员工多久疏忽行为以及对居民的心理，身体，财务/物质以及性虐待行为。他们还报告了自己多久实施一次虐待行为，并且这些比率按护理人员的性别，年龄和教育程度进行了分类。结果在3693名护理人员中（响应率为60.1％），在过去一年中，有76％观察到一次或多次虐待老人事件，而60.3％的人报告他们在同一时期内发生了一次或多次虐待事件。心理虐待和忽视是最常见的报道。男员工报告更多的身体虐待行为，而女员工报告更多的忽视行为。工作人员的高等教育与自我报告的心理虐待发生率较高有关，身体虐待和忽视。结论这项对挪威养老院工作人员的首次全国性调查是全球范围内最大的估计机构环境中虐待老年人患病率的研究之一。总体而言，我们发现员工对居民的虐待相对普遍，我们的研究结果提出需要采取预防策略来改善挪威疗养院居民的生活质量和安全。