Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7970
Title: Factors influencing decision-making by social care and health sector professionals in cases of elder financial abuse
Authors: Davies, ML
Gilhooly, MLM
Gilhooly, KJ
Harries, PA
Cairns, D
Keywords: Elder financial abuse;Decision-making;Bystander intervention;Safeguarding;Social care;Health care
Issue Date: 2013
Publisher: Springer
Citation: European Journal of Ageing, 10(4), 313-323, 2013
Abstract: This study aimed to identify the factors that have the greatest influence on UK social care and health sector professionals’ certainty that an older person is being financially abused, their likelihood of intervention, and the type of action most likely to be taken. A factorial survey approach, applying a fractional factorial design, was used. Health and social care professionals (n = 152) viewed a single sample of 50 elder financial abuse case vignettes; the vignettes contained seven pieces of information (factors). Following multiple regression analysis, incremental F tests were used to compare the impact of each factor on judgements. Factors that had a significant influence on judgements of certainty that financial abuse was occurring included the older person’s mental capacity and the nature of the financial problem suspected. Mental capacity accounted for more than twice the variance in likelihood of action than the type of financial problem. Participants from social care were more likely to act and chose more actions compared to health sector participants. The results are discussed in relation to a bystander intervention model. The impact of the older person’s mental capacity on decision-making suggests the need for training to ensure action is also taken in cases where older people have full mental capacity and are being abused. Training also needs to highlight the more subtle types of financial abuse, the types that appear not to lead to certainty or action.
Description: This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.
URI: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10433-013-0279-3
http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7970
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10433-013-0279-3
ISSN: 1613-9372
Appears in Collections:Social Work
Community Health and Public Health
Brunel OA Publishing Fund
Dept of Health Sciences Research Papers

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
Notice.pdf9.25 kBAdobe PDFView/Open


Items in BURA are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.