Maltreatment of Patients in Nursing Homes: There Is No Safe Place

by Harris; Diana

• ISBN13: 9780789023254
• ISBN10: 0789023253
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-12-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Abuse, although often not detected or reported, existed in every facility we surveyed. It is a serious problem.” Old, weak, and often cognitively impaired, nursing home patients can be easy targets for physical, psychological, material, and financial mistreatment at the hands of those entrusted with their care, safety, and well-being. Maltreatment of Patients in Nursing Homes: There Is No Safe Place examines the dark side of nursing homes, where not every employee has the commitment of Mother Theresa. This groundbreaking book applies criminological theory to help develop practical methods of controlling abuse and presents the results of the first and only nationwide study on the theft of patients' belongings, a form of abuse too often ignored by the nursing home industry. Maltreatment of Patients in Nursing Homes surveys employees, administrators, and family members of patients in 47 nursing homes throughout the United States. Their responses provide invaluable insights on a wide range of topics, including the social and psychological factors that cause different types of abuse, characteristics of nursing home patients and employees, the bureaucracy of nursing homes, victimization rates, workforce issues of nursing home aides, and federal regulations for nursing homes. The information gained from the surveys forms the basis for detailed recommendations for creating a safer environment and reducing all forms of abuse, including theft-prevention training programs, background checks and improved screening of potential employees, education and advocacy for current staff, and the reform of federal regulations. Maltreatment of Patients in Nursing Homes examines: types of physical abuse (restraints, sexual abuse, neglect) the who, what, and why of nursing home theft types of financial abuse (trust accounts, bank accounts, improper charges for services and drugs, identity theft) types of psychological abuse (abandonment, segregation, childlike treatment, verbal abuse) effects of psychological abuse (depression, learned helplessness, psychiatric disorders) reasons for abuse by employees (staff turnover, job burnout, job dissatisfaction, caregiver stress) One of the few books to deal with abuse of the elderly outside a domestic setting, Maltreatment of Patients in Nursing Homes: There Is No Safe Place interprets and analyzes abuse to provide new ways of thinking about this growing problem and new methods of preventing it from growing any more widespread.

Author Biography

Michael L. Benson is Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
PART I: NURSING HOMES AND THEORIES OF ABUSE
Chapter 1. The Nature of Nursing Homes	3	(14)
Myths and Facts About Nursing Homes	5	(3)
How Nursing Homes Got Started	8	(2)
Nursing Homes As Bureaucracies	10	(3)
Nursing Homes As Total Institutions	13	(1)
Barriers to Nursing Home Abuse Research	14	(3)
Chapter 2. Nursing Aides: The Backbone of Care in Nursing Homes	17	(10)
Workforce Issues and Problems of Nursing Home Aides	17	(7)
Narratives of Nursing Home Aides	24	(3)
Chapter 3. Understanding Abuse	27	(12)
Why Nursing Homes May Be Good for Abusers	28	(1)
Nursing Homes and the Motivated Offender	29	(4)
Patients and Their Possessions As Suitable Targets	33	(1)
Guardianship in Nursing Homes	33	(2)
Countervailing Forces	35	(1)
Summary	36	(3)
PART II: NURSING HOME THEFT
Chapter 4. Employees and Theft	39	(16)
Results from the Survey of Employees	40	(12)
Conclusions About Employees	52	(3)
Chapter 5. The Victims and Their Families	55	(12)
Family Members' Reports of Theft	57	(2)
What Is Stolen?	59	(6)
Conclusion	65	(2)
Chapter 6. Preventing and Reducing Theft	67	(8)
Theft Precautions for Patients	67	(2)
Theft Precautions for Nursing Homes	69	(2)
Reporting of Theft	71	(1)
Theft Prevention Training Programs	72	(3)
PART III: PHYSICAL AND MENTAL MALTREATMENT
Chapter 7. Physical Abuse and Neglect	75	(14)
Abandonment, Segregation, and Neglect	75	(1)
Government Reform Committee	76	(4)
Types of Physical Abuse	80	(4)
Sexual Abuse	84	(2)
Neglect	86	(3)
Chapter 8. Psychological Abuse and Neglect	89	(10)
Types of Psychological Abuse	90	(3)
Some Effects of Psychological Abuse	93	(3)
Neglect	96	(3)
Chapter 9. Reducing the Risk of Physical and Psychological Abuse	99	(10)
Screening Practices	99	(4)
Staff Education and Training	103	(2)
Advocacy	105	(4)
PART IV: FRAUD, REFORM, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Chapter 10. Exploitation of Nursing Home Patients: Their Finances and Rights	109	(8)
Financial Abuse	109	(3)
Reform of Nursing Home Regulations	112	(5)
Chapter 11. Summary and Conclusions	117	(6)
Appendix. Methodology	123	(8)
Data Collection	124	(1)
Employee Questionnaires	125	(1)
Measuring Theft	126	(1)
Response Rates from the Survey of Employees	127	(1)
Victimization Survey	128	(1)
Family Members' Questionnaire	128	(3)
Glossary	131	(4)
References	135	(6)
Index	141