International Conference 2024 | Responding to Elder Abuse in Hospital Settings

The 10th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health (ICSWHMH) was held in November 2024 in Melbourne. This significant event in successfully brought together social work professionals, researchers, educators, and students from around the world to discuss and share the latest developments in the field of social work in health and mental health.

Recording 1

A Window of Opportunity – The Royal Melbourne Hospital Response to Elder Abuse

Presenter: Ms Dominique Horne (Australia, VIC)

This presentation is for anyone interested in the wellbeing of advanced seniors living in the community or in care. You will learn about the Flexicare Model and the Senior Friendly Service Delivery Matrix. You will be able to identify the barriers to engagement and know how to overcome them by using five guiding principles and life story interview techniques. You will also learn about the ‘mental health and neurological spectrum’ and what three criteria are essential for making assessments regarding suitability.

Expect unconventional ideas around obtaining consent, defining therapeutic effectiveness and the use of outcome measures. We will unpack what it means to be truly senior friendly as we re-think policy and practice across multiple systems. Therapist self-care is covered which will include learning how to protect yourself against the Mickey Mouse Mindset. More broadly you will be invited to think critically about our society’s relationship with death and decline and whether positive ageing has a negative side. This presentation is for anyone passionate about ageing well. It seeks to create a better world for your mother, your father and your future self. It also seeks to ‘bring sexy back’ in how we listen to and respect our elders.

Recording 2

A Practice Framework for Social Workers Responding to Elder Abuse in Hospital Settings

Presenters: A/Prof Maree Petersen (Australia, QLD), A/Prof Cheryl Tilse (Australia, QLD) & Dr Gai Harrison (Australia, QLD)

There is a need for a tailored framework to work with older people experiencing abuse in hospital settings. This session explains the development and evaluation of a social work practice framework for identifying and responding to elder abuse in sub-acute and acute health settings. Hospitals are at the frontline in responding to elder abuse, and social workers have a primary responsibility to identify, assess, and address the abuse. While hospital admission provides a window of opportunity to work with suspected abuse of an older person, this context also presents significant constraints.

The multistage qualitative study comprised interviews and focus groups. Case vignettes were developed based on interviews with older people with lived experience of abuse, national and international research and policy experts, and social work practitioners working in acute and sub-acute wards within one health district in southeast Queensland. Four vignettes were then presented in semi-structured interviews with experienced practitioners.

A draft framework was developed using data from the first two stages and subsequently evaluated and refined through focus groups with experienced hospital social workers. The resulting practice framework offers a set of guiding practice principles for working with older people in hospital settings, including those with impaired decision-making capacity.

AASW Credentials: Older Persons