DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37464
title: Development and Validation of a Screening Protocol to Identify Elder Abuse in United States Emergency Departments, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Camden, New Jersey, and Jacksonville, Florida, 2018-2019
title: Archival Version

description: This study was conducted to address elder abuse within emergency departments in the United States. The aim of this study was to develop a screening protocol or more specifically, an emergency department based tool to discover this specific abuse and try to eliminate it. This emergency department senior aid tool was created in two phases: the development phase and the validation phase. The purpose of the development phase was to test the reliability of this tool in detecting elder abuse in ages 65 and older individuals. On the other hand, the validation phase was to test the tool at three different locations: UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, and University of Florida Health in Jacksonville, Florida.
description: The purpose of this study was to create effective screening tools conducted by research nurses that will aid in finding types of elder abuse in emergency departments in the United States. This study population is primarily in emergency departments located in three facilities: University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, North Carolina), Cooper Hospital (Camden, New Jersey), and University of Florida Health (Jacksonville, Florida).
description: The design of this study involved 2000 patients to identify the effectiveness of the new screening tool that was created. To ensure consistency throughout the study there was a research nurse that conducted the entire process. The research nurse was a registered nurse with a clinical background in emergency nursing who was specifically trained to implement the screener. Afterward, social work evaluations were conducted for patients who tested positive on the screenings and in addition, 20% of the negative screens had social work evaluations done as well. All documentation including medical records, evaluations, and Adult Protective Services records were provided to the expert panel.
description: In the development phase dataset, the variables mostly were about personal patients' information to confirm whether they qualify for the study or not. The purpose of this was to test the reliability of the ED-specific tool to identify elder abuse happening to this patient population (65 years and older). Some examples of the variables demonstrate the eligibility and safety level of the patients. Some variables include <strong>supp_cog_mmse1</strong> that portray their level of physical and mental state fit for the study. On the other hand, the validation phase dataset includes variables that assessed the accuracy of the ED-specific protocol to identify elder abuse happening to these patients. This was accomplished by asking patients questions to screen them for abuse in a three-part evaluation. Some examples of the variables include <strong>ea_phys1</strong> or <strong>ea_neg1a</strong>.
description: A minimum of 1800 elder patients which was later increased to 2000 elder patients from all three sites. This was due to the first sample size being too small which gave a lower positive screening of 3% in the validation study.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: Development Phase DS2: Validation Phase
description: Smallest Geographic Unit: State
description: face-to-face interview