Caregivers must provide for their own emotional needs in order to remain effective. Part of this involves sharing responsibilities with other family members, friends, and other caring helpers. Elder abuse as a form of domestic violence will probably gain more public attention as baby-boomers age. Public concern has grown as popular culture has become increasingly attuned to the plight of victims of a variety of forms of abuse. The NYS Office of the Aging defines elder abuse as the physical or emotional abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation of older adults.
Physical abuse is violence that results in bodily harm or mental distress.
Negligence, a more passive form of abuse, is the breach of duty by another, which results in injury or the violation of rights. Financial exploitation involves the theft or conversion of anything of value belonging to the elderly person by a caregiver. People who abuse elderly family members may suffer guilt deeply and perhaps live long enough to be similarly victimized by a younger generation that learned by example. As with child abuse or spouse abuse, many crimes against older people go unreported because victims do not view themselves as physically, financially, mentally or emotionally able to seek help. And often they truly are not.