2016 Volume 57 Issue 2 Pages 15-28
In order to address the factors behind the issues and the issues themselves that arise in the definition of elder abuse, we conducted an integrative review of 14 articles. As a result, the unsolved issues of the definition of elder abuse can be placed into the following 7 categories: “Discussion on a consensus to sort out the differences in the recognition of elder abuse”; “Discussions on abusive acts excluded by the Elder Abuse Prevention Law”; “Discussions on introducing the concept of maltreatment with a view to abuse prevention”; “Discussions on the essence of the definition of elder abuse”; “Discussions on the concepts and classifications of elder abuse unique to Japan”; “Discussions on self-neglect”; and “Discussions on coverage of victims and perpetrators”. In addition, as background factors of these issues, 6 categories including “difficulty of the research method” were summarized. Accordingly, we concluded the following. 1. The concept of the definition should reflect exactly the situations of elder abuse. 2. The definition should be examined based on the theory that can explain the essence of the abuse and that does not rely on existing studies which view the concept of the abuse uniformly. 3. Empirical studies based on both the viewpoints of the elderly themselves and caregivers are necessary to get a more explicit definition of elder abuse.
