[The domestic violence against the elderly within the Family Health Program of Niterói (RJ, Brazil)].

This article investigates the magnitude and characteristics of violence against the elderly by trusted people at Ilha da Conceição, Niterói--RJ registered at the Family Health Program. A domestic survey interviewed 343 individuals with 60 years or more, selected by a simple random sample. To identify the violence it was used the Conflict Tactics Scales. Information about identification, demographics and socio-economics characteristics were obtained using the National Health Interview Survey. The Mini-Mental State Examination was used to evaluate mental health. In order to evaluate the functional capacity, the Health Assessment Questionnaire was used. In cases of alcohol suspicion among men, it was used the instrument CAGE. To female elder or caregivers, the TWEAK instrument was used. 43% reported at least one episode of psychological violence. Physical violence was reported by 9.6% of the interviewed, 6.1% reported serious physical violence in this period. The prevalence of different modalities of violence was higher among the youngest individuals, with higher scholarity, among those who have one of the pathologies that characterize the elderly as having a vulnerability (depression and/or urinary incontinence/fecal and/or diabetes and/or rheumatism) and those living with the greatest number of individuals.