[Primary care doctors' and nurses' opinion of elder abuse and neglect]. / Visión del maltrato al anciano desde atención primaria.

OBJECTIVE: To identify primary care health professionals' opinion of elder abuse and its management. Qualitative study through focus groups. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-seven health professionals in primary care. Analyses of the thematic content of data, codification, segmentation and creation of categories of the text corpus. RESULTS: The most frequent types of abuse were psychological and financial. Neglect was associated with current lifestyles. Physical and sexual abuse was considered infrequent, but possibly under-detected. Important risk factors were dysfunctional families, stressed and under-trained caregivers, and elder hostility. The profile of the abuser was associated with mental disorders, drug addiction and prior family violence in physical and financial abuse, but no clear profile was identified in the categories of neglect and abandonment. Social and health resources were insufficient and limited intervention, thus making detection fruitless. Education, monitoring and counseling of health professionals in elder abuse was considered necessary because, given external and well coordinated support, primary care could intervene effectively in situations of elder abuse. CONCLUSIONS: Although the phenomenon of elder abuse is well known, consensus guidelines for its detection and intervention need to be defined. The lack of resources and the difficulties of delimiting responsibilities in the management of elder abuse should be taken into account when planning strategies. The health professionals considered themselves as a resource and did not avoid involvement.

Visión del maltrato al anciano desde atención primaria / Primary care doctors' and nurses' opinion of elder abuse and neglect

Objetivo: Identificar la opinión de los profesionales sanitarios de atención primaria (AP) sobre el maltrato al anciano (MA) y su abordaje, mediante un estudio cualitativo de grupos focales. Sujetos y métodos: Participaron 27 sanitarios de AP. Se llevó a cabo un análisis del contenido temático de los datos, la codificación, la segmentación y la creación de categorías del corpus textual. Resultados: Consideraron más frecuentes los abusos psicológicos y económicos. La negligencia se relacionó con el estilo de vida actual. Los abusos físicos y sexuales se consideraron anecdóticos, aunque posiblemente infradiagnosticados. Entre los factores de riesgo destacan la desestructuración familiar, la sobrecarga, la escasa formación del cuidador y la hostilidad del anciano. El maltratador se asoció con determinadas variables, como enfermedad mental, drogodependencia, violencia familiar previa en abusos físicos y económicos; no había un perfil definido en situaciones de negligencia o abandono. Los recursos sociales y sanitarios son insuficientes y limitan la intervención, haciendo infructuosa la detección. La formación, la supervisión y el asesoramiento de los profesionales respecto al MA se consideraron recursos necesarios puesto que, con apoyos externos y bien coordinados, la AP podría actuar eficazmente en estas situaciones. Conclusiones: Aunque los profesionales demostraron un buen conocimiento del problema, se puso de manifiesto la necesidad de disponer de pautas consensuadas de detección e intervención. Afloraron carencias de recursos y dificultades en la delimitación de responsabilidades en el abordaje del MA, que han de tenerse en cuenta a la hora de planificar estrategias. Los profesionales se consideraron a sí mismos un recurso de actuación sin rehuir su implicación

Objective: To identify primary care health professionals' opinion of elder abuse and its management. Qualitative study through focus groups. Participants: Twenty-seven health professionals in primary care. Analyses of the thematic content of data, codification, segmentation and creation of categories of the text corpus. Results: The most frequent types of abuse were psychological and financial. Neglect was associated with current lifestyles. Physical and sexual abuse was considered infrequent, but possibly under-detected. Important risk factors were dysfunctional families, stressed and under-trained caregivers, and elder hostility. The profile of the abuser was associated with mental disorders, drug addiction and prior family violence in physical and financial abuse, but no clear profile was identified in the categories of neglect and abandonment. Social and health resources were insufficient and limited intervention, thus making detection fruitless. Education, monitoring and counseling of health professionals in elder abuse was considered necessary because, given external and well coordinated support, primary care could intervene effectively in situations of elder abuse. Conclusions: Although the phenomenon of elder abuse is well known, consensus guidelines for its detection and intervention need to be defined. The lack of resources and the difficulties of delimiting responsibilities in the management of elder abuse should be taken into account when planning strategies. The health professionals considered themselves as a resource and did not avoid involvement