To add to the literature on the prevalence of elder abuse, the Toward a Better Understanding of Elder Mistreatment in Community Settings undertook interviews with individuals from largely Latino/Hispanic backgrounds, primarily low-income immigrants from Latin America. This project used a Promotores approach to maximize the respondents’ comfort level and increase how candid the respondents would be during the interview, a technique that resulted in considerably larger reported rates of abuse than seen previously.

Publications:

• DeLiema, M., Gassoumis, Z. D., Homeier, D. C., & Wilber, K. H. (2012). Determining prevalence and correlates of elder abuse using promotores: Low income immigrant Latinos report high rates of abuse and neglect. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 60(7), 1333-9.
• Enguidanos, S. M., DeLiema, M., Aguilar, I., Lambrinos, J., & Wilber, K.H. (2014). Multicultural voices: Attitudes of older adults in the United States about elder mistreatment. Ageing and Society, 34(5), 877-903.
• DeLiema, M., Navarro, A. E., Enguidanos, S. & Wilber, K. H. (2015). Voices from the frontlines: Examining elder abuse from multiple professional perspectives. Health and Social Work, 40(2), e15-e24.

Contact:
Zach Gassoumis(gassoumi@usc.edu)