Objective:

To analyze the cases of elder abuse in a municipality in the south of Minas Gerais (Brazil) over a 13-year period.

Materials and methods:

Quantitative, retrospective, documentary, analytical study using data from the Municipal Council of the Elderly. The collection of data for the period between 2004 and 2016 took place in the first half of 2017. For the trend analysis of cases of violence, simple linear regression was used.

Results:

389 reports were received, but only 273 described elder abuse. As for the aggressor, 39.56 % were male and 43.59 % were children of the victims. In relation to the type of violence, negligence stood out (34.80 %), followed by psychological (16.12 %) and financial violence (8.79 %). There was a statistically significant relationship between the sex of the victim (p = 0.017), victim-complainant relationship (p <0.001), victim-aggressor relationship (p <0.001) and the type of violence.

Conclusion:

Elder abuse in such municipality generally involves relatives of the individuals. It is concluded that there is a need to train professionals and prepare a complete, standardized tool for recording incidents and expanding research in the area in order to take action to fight elder abuse.

        · abstract in Portuguese | Spanish     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )