Family violence among older adult patients consulting in primary care clinics: results from the ESA (Enquête sur la santé des aînés) services study on mental health and aging.

OBJECTIVE

To document the reliability and construct validity of the Family Violence Scale (FVS) in the older adult population aged 65 years and older.

METHOD: Data came from a cross-sectional survey, the Enquête sur la santé des aînés et l'utilisation des services de santé (ESA Services Study), conducted in 2011-2013 using a probabilistic sample of older adults waiting for medical services in primary care clinics (n = 1765). Family violence was defined as a latent variable, coming from a spouse and from children.

RESULTS

A model with 2 indicators of violence; that is, psychological and financial violence, and physical violence, adequately fitted the observed data. The reliability of the FVS was 0.95. According to our results, 16% of older adults reported experiencing some form of family violence in the past 12 months of their interview, and 3% reported a high level of family violence (FVS > 0.36). Our results showed that the victim's sex was not associated with the degree of violence (β = 0.02). However, the victim's age was associated with family violence (β = -0.12). Older adults, aged 75 years and older, reported less violence than those aged between 65 and 74 years.

CONCLUSION

Our results lead us to conclude that family violence against older adults is common and warrants greater public health and political attention. General practitioners could play an active role in the detection of violence among older adults.