This article examines Israeli social workers’ experiences of their encounters with elder abuse survivors and its impact on professional and personal aspects in the social workers’ lives. Participants were seventeen experienced women social workers, who intervened with elder abuse and neglect. Data were collected via in-depth semi-structured interviews. Data analysis revealed three main themes: (i) ‘Sensing the Pain’: Exposure to the Complexity of Clients’ Life-Long Suffering; (ii) Taking Home the Pain: Social Workers Dwelling with the Sensitivity of the Encounter with Elder Abuse and (iii) ‘Caring for Them, and Letting Them Be Part of My World’: The Encounter as Resonating in Social Workers’ Professional and Personal Life Domains. Social workers’ experiences of complex, sensitive encounters with elder abuse survivors appear to be a multidimensional challenge, involving both burden and growth. This notion can leverage the client–helping professional relationship, thus enriching and shaping social workers’ personal and professional worlds.

中文翻译：

---

社会工作者遭遇虐待和忽视的遭遇：赋予他们的经验以意义

本文探讨了以色列社会工作者与虐待老人幸存者相遇的经历及其对社会工作者生活中专业和个人方面的影响。参加者有17名经验丰富的女性社会工作者，他们干预了老年人的虐待和忽视行为。通过深入的半结构化访谈收集数据。数据分析揭示了三个主要主题：（i）“感觉痛苦”：暴露出客户终身痛苦的复杂性；（ii）痛下Home来：社会工作者在遭遇虐待的情况下对老年人敏感，并且（iii）“关怀他们，让他们成为我的世界的一部分”：遭遇在社会工作者的专业和个人中引起共鸣生活领域。社会工作者的复杂经历 与遭受虐待的幸存者的敏感接触似乎是一个多方面的挑战，涉及负担和成长。该概念可以利用与客户有帮助的专业关系，从而丰富和塑造社会工作者的个人和专业世界。