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Stopping Abuse Among Nursing Home Residents Requires a Better Living Environment

Much of the information that circulates regarding nursing home abuse describes scenarios where staff members neglect and abuse their residents directly. There is also growing concern about specific types of abuse including sexual abuse and financial abuse, which are often more difficult to detect when committed against elderly people. 

An underrecognized problem in nursing homes is resident-on-resident abuse. A 2014 study aimed to shed light on this chronic problem. Weill Cornell Medical College and Cornell University, with lead author Dr. Mark Lachs, studied over 2,000 patients in 10 different urban and suburban nursing homes in New York.

The month-long study is considered the first of its kind as a large-scale study assessing resident-to-resident abuse. Ultimately, the study concluded that nearly 20% of nursing home patients were involved in some form of aggressive encounter with one or more fellow nursing home residents during the four-week period.

Patient mistreatment ranged from verbal to physical violence and aggression to general unwanted encounters.

The types of encounters the study examined included the following acts committed by a resident against another resident:

  • Coming into a resident’s room and rifling through their belongings
  • Being run over by a wheelchair
  • Having food taken off their plate without asking
  • Being called names or other verbal assaults
  • Undergoing physical violence
  • Being sexually assaulted

The study included any situation where the victim would suffer physical or psychological distress as a result of the actions of another resident. Based on observations and resident interviews during the study, the results indicated that 75% of encounters were verbal in nature and the remaining 25% of encounters were physical.

While the fact that resident-on-resident abuse does occur in nursing homes does not come as a surprise to experts, the prevalence of these types of incidents is alarming. It is especially concerning because the nature of resident-on-resident abuse makes it more difficult to control and rectify.

With abuse committed by staff members, the employee can be fired, sued or prosecuted. However, with abuse among residents, the problem needs to be rectified by creating a better living environment for everyone.

Creating a better environment in nursing homes that prevents resident-on-resident abuse starts with understanding why these incidents occur. Elderly people with cognitive degenerative disorders can be easily aggravated by certain environmental triggers. These triggers include lighting, noise or large crowds and can send dementia patients into violent or distressed states. This creates an overall environment that causes unpredictable behaviors among patients that often result in violent outbursts or mistreatment towards others.

Experts, like those who conducted this study, recommend that nursing homes work with Alzheimer’s disease experts to better understand how to create an environment that prevents resident-on-resident abuse. This includes educating nursing home staff on how to respond to yelling among dementia ward residents so that they can control the noise level.

Hopefully, with greater education, nursing homes can start to create a more positive culture that works proactively to prevent abuse among residents. Read more on this study.

Nursing Home Abuse Support Team

The Nursing Home Abuse Center (NHAC) was founded to bring justice to those affected by nursing home and elder abuse. Our mission is to educate and empower victims of abuse and their families to take a stand against this unlawful mistreatment. We work to return dignity back to those who have been broken down by nursing home abuse and neglect.

  1. http://news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2014/11/study-highlights-prevalence-of-mistreatment-between-nursing-home-residents-pillemer-lachs
  2. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nursing-home-violence-common-but-from-an-unlikely-source/