Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT06786065

A Path to Prevention of Elder Abuse in Long-term Care. General Population Prevalence Study

The goal of this cross-sectional study is to learn about how common experiences of different forms of abuse are among people over the age of 65 years in Sweden. The main question it aims to answer is:

• What is the prevalence of abuse of older people in Sweden?

Participants are recruited through a random selection of people over 65 years from the populations register. Eligible participants are asked to answer a questionnaire including items about experiences of emotional, physical, sexual or financial abuse as well as neglect.

Completed

Looking for future studies?

Notify Me

Key information

Conditions

Elder Abuse

Age range

65 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Observational

Primary location

Linkoeping University

Linköping, 58183, Sweden

About this study

Detailed Description Main aim

  • Investigate the prevalence of abuse of older people in Sweden

Secondary aims:

  • Investigate factors associated with reporting abusive experiences, e.g., health factors, frailty, care dependence
  • Investigate resilience factors associated with abusive experiences, e.g., social support, positive emotion regulation and sense of purpose.

Study design and data collection Cross-sectional questionnaire study using a combination of digital and postal questionnaires and carried out by Statistics Sweden. A national representative sample of older adults will be used.

The invitation to participate and questionnaire will be sent to altogether 16 000 older adults (≥ 65 years) selected from the population register at random. To be able to provide information about experiences of abuse among both men and women, in all age groups and among the most vulnerable population, older adults residing in care facilities, the sample is stratified according to the information given in the study population description. Population weights will be used in analyses.

Material:

The questions about abusive experiences used in the study is part of the "REAGERA-S20" questionnaire developed and validated in a separate study (Clinical Trial register number NCT06659822). In addition, other relevant and validated questionnaires are included, e.g., The Tilburg Frailty Indicator, the UCLA loneliness scale, the Positive Emotional Regulation scale and a scale measuring sense of purpose.

In addition, statistics from Swedish registers concerning e.g., usage of home care services, sociodemographic factors and indicators of health status will be used to explore factors associated with elder abuse on different levels of the socio-ecological framework.

Analysis:

Prevalence will be reported for the different types of abuse (emotional, physical, sexual, financial abuse and neglect) in different relational contexts (partner, child, staff, other known perpetrator, unknown perpetrator).

Regression analyses will be used to investigate associations between reporting different forms of abuse and factors on different levels of the socio-ecological model. On an individual and relational level characteristic of respondents, e.g., age, educational level, own previous victimization, resilience factors as well as frailty and different health indicators from registers will be considered. On the community and societal level factors such as living conditions will be considered.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Age 65 or older (born in 1959 or earlier)

Exclusion criteria

  • None

Treatment and study plan

No intervention (observational study)

Other

No intervention (observational study)

Primary outcomes

  1. Prevalence of emotional abuse of older people

    Time frame: Day1. Cross sectional study using only one point of data collection. Participants are enrolled by returing a questionnaire including items about abuse. The timeframe used in the questionnaire is experiences of abuse during the past 12 months.

    Prevalence of emotional abuse the past 12 months as reported in part two of the REAGERA-S20 (Responding to Elder Abuse in Geriatric care) questionnaire. The questionnaire include five questions about emotional abusive experiences and each question is answered with yes or no. Yes to at least one question will be considered as reporting experiences of emotional abuse.

  2. Prevalence of physical abuse of older people

    Time frame: Day 1. Cross sectional study using only one point of data collection. Participants are enrolled by returing a questionnaire including items about abuse. The timeframe used in the questionnaire is experiences of abuse during the past 12 months.

    Prevalence of physical abuse the past 12 months as reported in part two of the REAGERA-S20 (Responding to Elder Abuse in Geriatric care) questionnaire. The questionnaire include two questions about physical abusive experiences and each question is answered with yes or no. Yes to at least one question will be considered as reporting experiences of physical abuse.

  3. Prevalence of sexual abuse of older people

    Time frame: Day 1. Cross sectional study using only one point of data collection. Participants are enrolled by returing a questionnaire including items about abuse. The timeframe used in the questionnaire is experiences of abuse during the past 12 months.

    Prevalence of sexual abuse the past 12 months as reported in part two of the REAGERA-S20 (Responding to Elder Abuse in Geriatric care) questionnaire. The questionnaire include two questions about sexually abusive experiences and each question is answered with yes or no. Yes to at least one question will be considered as reporting experiences of sexual abuse.

  4. Prevalence of financial abuse of older people

    Time frame: Day 1. Cross sectional study using only one point of data collection. Participants are enrolled by returing a questionnaire including items about abuse. The timeframe used in the questionnaire is experiences of abuse during the past 12 months.

    Prevalence of financial abuse the past 12 months as reported in part two of the REAGERA-S20 (Responding to Elder Abuse in Geriatric care) questionnaire. The questionnaire include one questions about financial abusive experiences and is answered with yes or no. Yes to will be considered as reporting experiences of financial abuse.

  5. Prevalence of neglect of older people

    Time frame: Day 1. Cross sectional study using only one point of data collection. Participants are enrolled by returing a questionnaire including items about abuse. The timeframe used in the questionnaire is experiences of abuse during the past 12 months.

    Prevalence of neglect the past 12 months as reported in part two of the REAGERA-S20 (Responding to Elder Abuse in Geriatric care) questionnaire. The questionnaire include two questions about neglect and each question is answered with yes or no. Yes to at least one question will be considered as reporting experiences of neglect.

  6. Life-course prevalence of emotional abuse

    Time frame: Day 1

    Prevalence of emotional abuse over the life-course as reported in the questionnaire used. One question is used and possible answeres are "no", "yes before the age of 18", "yes between 18 and 65 years" and "yes after the age of 65 years". Results will be reported for abusive experience in each age span.

  7. Life-course prevalence of physical abuse

    Time frame: Day 1

    Prevalence of physical abuse over the life-course as reported in the questionnaire used. One question is used and possible answeres are "no", "yes before the age of 18", "yes between 18 and 65 years" and "yes after the age of 65 years". Results will be reported for abusive experience in each age span.

  8. Life-course prevalence of sexual abuse

    Time frame: Day 1

    Prevalence of sexual abuse over the life-course as reported in the questionnaire used. One question is used and possible answeres are "no", "yes before the age of 18", "yes between 18 and 65 years" and "yes after the age of 65 years". Results will be reported for abusive experience in each age span.

  9. Life-course prevalence of financial abuse

    Time frame: Day 1

    Prevalence of financial abuse over the life-course as reported in the questionnaire used. One question is used and possible answeres are "no", "yes before the age of 18", "yes between 18 and 65 years" and "yes after the age of 65 years". Results will be reported for abusive experience in each age span.

  10. Life-course prevalence of neglect

    Time frame: Day 1

    Prevalence of neglect over the life-course as reported in the questionnaire used. One question is used and possible answeres are "no", "yes before the age of 18", "yes between 18 and 65 years" and "yes after the age of 65 years". Results will be reported for abusive experience in each age span.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Linkoeping University

Other Gov

Collaborators

  • City of Gothenburg
  • Karolinska Institutet
  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  • Region Östergötland

Registry information

Acronym: APPEAL

Important dates

Study start
2024
Primary completion
2025
Study completion
2025
First posted
Jan 22, 2025
Registry last updated
Jan 27, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Related clinical trials

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.