IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v21y2024i9p1220-d1479602.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sexual Violence against Adults Aged 50 Years and Older and Implications for Prevention: A Thematic Analysis of Service Providers’ Perceptions

Author

Listed:
  • Michelle D. Hand

    (Department of Social Work, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA)

  • Mo Yee Lee

    (College of Social Work, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA)

  • Michelle L. Kaiser

    (College of Social Work, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA)

  • Cecilia Mengo

    (College of Social Work, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA)

  • Holly Dabelko-Schoeny

    (College of Social Work, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA)

Abstract

At-risk older adults and older survivors of sexual violence (SV) remain largely absent from SV prevention and intervention, owing to ageism and sexism, as well as other intersectional forms of prejudice, including among service providers (e.g., social workers, healthcare professionals, practitioners in SV organizations, and practitioners who serve older adults). This study explored perceptions, knowledge and experiences with SV against adults 50 years and older. Service providers who work with older adults and/or survivors were recruited, owing to where SV in later life is reported (e.g., healthcare, long-term care, and social service organizations, and to police in addition to SV service organizations), to contribute to the limited research in this area and to advance prevention and intervention. A survey was conducted on SV in later life, exploring knowledge, perceptions and experiences with SV in later life along with potential solutions for prevention and intervention among 126 service providers who worked with survivors and/or older adults. Their responses were thematically analyzed. Five themes were identified: (a) misconceptions of SV in later life and unique barriers to preventing it; (b) needs for knowledge, awareness, research and education; (c) policy and resource development; (d) victim blame and internalized stigma, and (e) ageism, intersectional prejudice and rape culture. The findings offer an in-depth understanding of barriers to prevention, and intervention, and multi-level recommendations for addressing them, which are provided by a diverse group of service providers who have worked with older adults and/or with survivors, reflecting multidisciplinary practice wisdom and experience.

Suggested Citation

  • Michelle D. Hand & Mo Yee Lee & Michelle L. Kaiser & Cecilia Mengo & Holly Dabelko-Schoeny, 2024. "Sexual Violence against Adults Aged 50 Years and Older and Implications for Prevention: A Thematic Analysis of Service Providers’ Perceptions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(9), pages 1-23, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:9:p:1220-:d:1479602
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/9/1220/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/9/1220/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maria Helen Iversen & Astrid Kilvik & Wenche Malmedal, 2015. "Sexual Abuse of Older Residents in Nursing Homes: A Focus Group Interview of Nursing Home Staff," Nursing Research and Practice, Hindawi, vol. 2015, pages 1-6, May.
    2. Morgan E. Levine & Eileen M. Crimmins, 2018. "Is 60 the New 50? Examining Changes in Biological Age Over the Past Two Decades," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(2), pages 387-402, April.
    3. Sarah R Meyer & Molly E Lasater & Claudia García-Moreno, 2020. "Violence against older women: A systematic review of qualitative literature," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-43, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Scott, Andrew J., 2023. "The economics of longevity – An introduction," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    2. Ryan P. Burge & Brittany H. Bramlett, 2021. "The new older adult participant in American politics," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2972-2984, November.
    3. Abeliansky, Ana Lucia & Strulik, Holger, 2019. "Long-run improvements in human health: Steady but unequal," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    4. Hannah Bows & Paige Bromley & Sandra Walklate, 2024. "Practitioner Understandings of Older Victims of Abuse and Their Perpetrators: Not Ideal Enough?," The British Journal of Criminology, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, vol. 64(3), pages 620-637.
    5. Old, Jonathan & Scott, Andrew, 2023. "Healthy ageing trends in England between 2002 to 2018: Improving but slowing and unequal," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    6. Nina-Sophie Fritsch & Bernhard Riederer & Lena Seewann, 2023. "Living Alone in the City: Differentials in Subjective Well-Being Among Single Households 1995–2018," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(4), pages 2065-2087, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:9:p:1220-:d:1479602. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.