Supported decision-making to assist older persons experiencing elder abuse: An integrative review

Karen Strickland, Kasia Bail, Sarah Cope, Murray Turner, Cameron Moss

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Background
Elder abuse is an ongoing issue experienced by older persons in Australia, with instances of neglect, emotional, and physical abuse being reported to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.

Aim
The aim of this integrative review was to explore the evidence on the effectiveness of supported decision-making for applying to advocacy in older people and people experiencing elder abuse.

Methods
A systematic search was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analyses guidelines, across multiple databases including: MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Scopus, and Trove. One thousand two hundred-ten articles were screened for relevance using titles and abstracts. Of these, seven met the inclusion criteria.

Findings
Content analysis informed the development of four themes pertaining to supported decision-making amongst older persons: personal and environmental factors, relationship between decision maker and support person, information and training, and models and frameworks to aid assessment.

Discussion
Supported decision making presents an important move towards promoting, protecting, and ensuring human rights for people who may have previously been exposed to more paternalistic approaches.

Conclusion
The review highlighted gaps in the strength of evidence and was therefore not able to offer conclusive advice on of effectiveness of supported decision making in older people experiencing abuse. This review highlights the need for further research to be conducted to identify how best to offer supported decision making to support the autonomy and human rights of the older person.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)447-455
Number of pages9
JournalCollegian
Volume28
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2021

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Supported decision-making to assist older persons experiencing elder abuse: An integrative review'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this