Prevention primarily depends on information and awareness.
By obtaining information and informing others about elder abuse and its consequences for the victims, it becomes possible to anticipate cases of abuse and take action so they do not occur.
Thus, to succeed in preventing abuse situations, you must first understand what elder abuse is and how to recognize it.
Seniors will be better protected if the following conditions are combined:
- a healthy physical and psychosocial environment in which the senior feels safe;
- a network or adequate social support to break isolation;
- people around them who know the existence and the different facets of the elder abuse phenomenon;
- information adapted to the needs of seniors and the people around them on matters related to abuse and the places where this information is available;
- adequate training of the different home care workers who take care of seniors;
- support provided to family caregivers;
- a good understanding, by close relations and caregiving staff, of the aging phenomenon and its most frequent manifestations, such as alteration of vision, hearing, speech and balance;
- people around them who are not at a loss in dealing with the manifestation of losses of autonomy or diseases related to aging, such as dementia, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.
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