Online training helps prevent elder abuse

And although mainly people working in primarily aged care, health and community care sectors are accessing the training, it helps anyone who is working with older people identify and respond to elder abuse.

In the last financial year, Seniors Rights Victoria (SRV) received 2696 calls to its Helpline, of which 2,436 were related to elder abuse or associated issues. Women made up 75 percent of all callers, and callers overall came from 46 different countries of origin. The most commonly dealt with issues were financial and emotional/ psychological elder abuse.

“While the training is targeted to people in Victoria who work with older people, it is available for anyone to access, and people from elsewhere in Australia and overseas have completed the training,” confirms a spokesman.

The course will take 1.5 to 2 hours to complete and is free of charge. It includes a range of case studies, some in video format to illustrate these concepts and there is a short assessment at the end. Participants are required to register for the course and will be issued with a certificate upon successful completion of the course and assessment.

After the training, students will be able to:

• recognise and define types of elder abuse

• identify risk factors for elder abuse

• understand the empowerment model

• recognise that elder abuse situations are often complex

• understand your duty of care as worker

• contribute to building the capacity of your organisation to effectively respond to elder abuse.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines elder abuse as “a single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person”.