World Elder Abuse Awareness Day: Sunday 15 June

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) is being marked on 15 June 2014.

Age Concern says "Elder Abuse Awareness Week, 15-22 June is our chance to raise awareness in our communities that elder abuse does happen in New Zealand, and that it is happening at the hands of our families." The Age Concern website has information about Elder Abuse Awareness Week and the ongoing work of Age Concern's Elder Abuse and Neglect Prevention services.

Age Concern CEO Robyn Scott said elder abuse is fuelled by ageist attitudes and lack of respect for older people. "Some people think that because someone is old it doesn’t matter what happens to them anymore or they don’t need money to spend,” Mrs Scott said.

More information on this year's international activities is available on the WEAAD website.

Now is also a great time to brush up your knowledge of elder abuse and neglect. Links to useful research and resources are provided below.

New Zealand

Elder abuse and neglect : a selected bibliography was prepared by the Clearinghouse in 2012.

You can also search the topic Elder abuse for items in the Clearinghouse library.

Use the Clearinghouse Timeline topic Older people to find local and international milestones in elder abuse prevention.

International

VAWnet (USA) has recently updated its Special Collection: Preventing and Responding to Domestic & Sexual Violence in Later Life. Focusing specifically on domestic and sexual violence, this special collection highlights the complexities of older people's experiences and emphasises collaborative and multi-pronged approaches to addressing the issues.

This week, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Center on Elder Abuse (USA) are co-sponsoring an “Ask the Expert” Facebook Forum on Elder Abuse Prevention. You’re invited to ask questions, share ideas, and discuss solutions on CDC’s VetoViolence Facebook page all this week.

Other international resources include:

• CDC: Elder Abuse Prevention
• Understanding Elder Abuse Factsheet
• National Center on Elder Abuse