HATAY HEALTH SERVICES VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ OPINIONS OF ELDERLY ABUSE AND NEGLECT

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization, aging is defined as the decrease or loss of the ability to adapt to the environment.
Elder abuse and neglect are accepted as serious problem in our country and in the world. However, since most of the studies
focus on abuse and neglect for children and women, this issue does not come to the agenda very much.
Elderly abuse and neglect have different meanings. Elder abuse is the exposure of the elderly to life-threatening or harming
behavior. It is therefore a serious human rights violation that requires immediate action. It is also an important public health
problem that affects families and society adversely, resulting in serious health problems such as morbidity, mortality,
institutionalization and increased risk of hospitalization. Neglect of the elderly is defined as the inadequacy of meeting the
social, physical and emotional needs of the elderly.
The most important issue in the abuse and neglect of the elderly is not being aware of the problem or the difficulties in detecting
it. In the study, it was aimed to determine the opinions and thoughts of young people about the abuse and neglect of the elderly.
In this study, a total of 285 students, 191 (67%) girls and 94 (33%) boys, were applied survey. In our questionnaire, "Is the
neglect of not meeting the needs of the elderly individual?" 77% of the students answered yes, 75,8% answered that "loneliness
is the result of abuse and neglect". 54.7% of the students stated that they could look after the elderly and 29% stated that they
were undecided. 78.95% of the participants thought that the elderly individual did not have any burden or obstacle in the family.
However, this rate is lower in terms of caring for elderly individuals. As a result, although there is awareness about the abuse
and neglect of the elderly, it is seen that the practice is not considered warm.
We think that it is important to identify the serious effects on elderly health by raising the dimensions of elderly abuse and
neglect, to raise public awareness and to prevent these situations.