Violence against the elderly Challenges – Research – Action Edited by Katarzyna Jagielska Pedagogical University of Cracow, Poland Joanna Małgorzata Łukasik Jesuit University Ignatianum in Cracow, Poland Norbert Gerard Pikuła Pedagogical University of Cracow, Poland Toronto 2015 Reviewer: Stanislav Bendl, Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic) Elena Zhizhko, Autonomous University of Zacatecas (Mexico) The book was prepared within the project “Unheard Voices: Developing the East Central European Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse” founded by European Association of Schools of Social Work: EASSW. English editor and proofreader: Marcin Łączek, University of Warsaw (Poland) On cover © photolife95, Fotolia.com ISBN 978-0-9950471-0-5 Printing 2550 GoldenRidge Rd., Unit 6 Mississauga, Ontario, L4X 2S3 Canada tel: 905 281-3231 mail: [email protected] Contents Introduction ...............................................................................................................5 Stefan M. Kwiatkowski ROLE OF RESEARCH ON ELDER ABUSE: INTRODUCING MAIN ISSUES ............................................................................9 Challenges Mirosław J. Szymański VIOLENCE IN THE WORLD OF SOCIAL TURMOIL ...................................17 Andrzej Zwoliński CULTURAL BASIS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST THE ELDERLY ....................27 Research Darja Zaviršek BETWEEN CARE AND VIOLENCE: DISABLED WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES OF VIOLENCE .................................47 Małgorzata Halicka, Jerzy Halicki, Anna Szafranek MARITAL VIOLENCE AGAINST THE ELDERLY IN THE CONTEXT OF DISEASE ........................................................................65 Judy Hughes, Hai Luo ABUSE OF OLDER ADULTS IN CULTURALLY MINORITIZED GROUPS WITHIN CANADA ..............................................................................75 Susan Gair DISRUPTED AND DENIED CONTACT WITH GRANDCHILDREN: “I THINK IT’S A FORM OF ABUSE” ...........................93 Josef Hörl LEGAL RESPONSES TO ELDER ABUSE: DO THEY MATTER? ................107 Kristinka Ovesni TREATMENT OF ADULT VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE IN SERBIA ..............117 Sanela Šadić, Nusreta Salić SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CAUSES OF ELDERLY VIOLENCE IN BOSNIAN SOCIETY ......................................................................................143 4 Contents Vjollca Krasniqi AGING IN A YOUNG NATION AND NEW STATE KOSOVO: SOCIAL DIVISIONS AND NEGLECT ACROSS CULTURES ......................155 Lubica Juríčková, Kateřina Ivanová, Jan Lužný ADVOCACY FOR INCAPACITATED ELDERLY ...........................................165 Action Ariela Lowenstein, Sigal Naim MEANS OF PREVENTION OF ELDER ABUSE – THE ISRAELI EXPERIENCE ..............................................................................177 Adam Alfred Zych MODEL SOLUTIONS FOR COUNTERACTING VIOLENCE AGAINST THE ELDERLY ...................................................................................193 Tova Band-Winterstein, Sara Alon THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE WISDOM: TOWARDS A COMPREHENSIVE MODEL FOR ADDRESSING ELDER ABUSE AND NEGLECT .......................................................................205 Ginka Mehanzhiyska ELDER ABUSE AND NEGLECT – TRENDS AND PRACTICES IN BULGARIAN SOCIAL WORK ..................215 Jiří Prokop HOME VIOLENCE TO SENIORS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC ..................227 Dorota Smetanová DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST SENIORS IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC ............................................................................243 Nellia Nychkalo SOCIO-PEDAGOGICAL PROBLEMS OF SOCIAL PROTECTION OF ELDERLY PEOPLE: UKRAINIAN REALITIES AND PROSPECTS ................................................................................................259 Volodymyr Robak PHENOMENON OF VIOLENCE AGAINST OLDER PEOPLE AS A FACTOR OF THEIR LIFE QUALITY WORSENING ...........................269 Katarzyna Jagielska, Norbert Gerard Pikuła, Joanna Małgorzata Łukasik ELDER ABUSE IN THE EU – CHALLENGES FOR POLAND .....................279 Patricia Fernández-Montaño ELDER ABUSE IN SPAIN: DIAGNOSIS AND INTERVENTION................295 Introduction The phenomenon of violence is the focus of scientific research in terests of specialists in many disciplines (e.g. sociology, psychology, pedagogy, law, etc.). Most frequently, subject literature features research reports concerning violence against children or women. It is less often regarding vi olence against the elderly, although in the last decade the issue of elder abuse has occupied researchers to a greater extent. According to Piotr Sztompka, the occurrence of elder abuse on the one hand signals poor functioning of the mechanisms of social control, and on the other hand, lack of “social capital”, especially if the concept of social capital is to be referred to as an index of trust. What is the actual situation? This and other questions are answered by the Authors of the articles published in this volume. In order to establish the scale and nature of the examined phenomenon, and to take the necessary preventive, prophylactic, and interventional measures, the project “Unheard Voices: Developing the East Central European Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse” has been realized. Its crucial effects are the following: • Publication of conference findings in a report of policy recommen- dations and a collection of studies. • Establishment of the East Central European Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse. This will involve the creation of a website with a database of research resources for exchange of information. • Development of specific programmes: best practices and training for social workers, policy recommendations, and an awareness campaign. The publication Violence against the elderly. Challenges-Research-Action confirms the realization of the above objectives. It is a source of knowledge and practical solutions, which can be implemented in any state that faces the problem of elder abuse, taking into account the specific requirements of the given country. 6 Violence against the elderly… In the article Role of research on elder abuse: introducing main issues. Stefan M. Kwiatkowski introduces the readers to the problems of the sense, meaning, and importance of such research. In its further part, the volume is divided into three main chapters, entitled: I. Challenges, II.Research, and III. Action. The first chapter includes two papers, by Mirosław J. Szymański (Violence in the world of social turmoil) and Andrzej Zwoliński (Cultural basis of violence against the elderly). The Authors concentrate on the social-cultural changes and their consequences, among which they list the phenomenon of violence, including elder abuse. The second chapter – Research – contains nine articles. The Authors come from Central and Southern Europe, that is from Slovenia (Darja Zaviršek, Between care and violence: Disabled women’s experiences of violence), from Poland (M. Halicka, J. Halicki, Marital violence against the elderly in the context of disease), the Czech Republic (L. Juríčková, K. Ivanová, J. Lužný, Advocacy for incapacitated elderly), Serbia (K. Ovesni, Treatment of adult victims of violence in Serbia), Bosnia (S. Šadić, N. Salić, Social and economic causes of elderly violence in Bosnian society), and Kosovo (V. Krasniqi, Aging in a young nation and new state Kosovo: social divisions and neglect across cultures), but also from Western Europe, from Austria (J. Hörl, Legal responses to elder abuse: do they matter?), and from highly developed countries, as Canada (J. Hughes, H. Luo, Abuse of older adults in culturally minoritized groups within Canada) and Australia (S. Gair, Disrupted and denied contact with grandchildren: “I think it’s a form of abuse”). The articles present the most recent research on the scale of violence in those countries, and the problems the researchers face while investigating the actual scale of the phenomenon. The third chapter, Action, contains 10 papers. The first three are authored by Ariela Lowenstein, Sigal Naim (Means of Prevention of Elder Abuse – A Case Study of the Israeli Experience), by Adam A. Zych (Model solutions for counteracting violence against the elderly), and by Tova Band- Winterstein and Sara Alon (Theoretical knowledge and practice wisdom: towards a comprehensive model for addressing elder abuse and neglect), and propose specific solutions for counteracting the phenomenon of violence and for planning the strategies for specialists working with victims. The remaining articles present the analysis of actions taken so far in the former Eastern bloc countries. At the central level of administration, the steps taken are legal regulations and creation of support institutions. At the local Introduction 7 level, they include establishing interventional and support institutions, hiring specialists, and realizing preventive tasks against elder abuse, through implementation of prophylactic, interventional, and therapeutic projects and programmes. Such analyses are presented in articles by: G. Mehanzhiyska (Elder abuse and neglect – trends and practices in Bulgarian social work); J. Prokop (Home violence to seniors in the Czech Republic); D. Smetanova (Domestic violence against seniors in the Slovak Republic); N. Nychkalo (Socio-pedagogical problems of social protection of elderly people: Ukrainian realities and prospects) and V. Robak (Phenomenon of violence against older people as a factor of their life quality worsening). The same problems are discussed with respect to other countries, like Spain, by P. Fernández-Montaño (Elder abuse in Spain: diagnosis