[Abuse and neglect of older care recipients in domestic settings - a survey among nurses of in-home care services].

Although some anecdotal evidence for the phenomenon of abuse and neglect of community-dwelling older care recipients by in-home care services exists, there is an almost complete lack of data on this topic. In order to determine extent and risk factors of abuse and neglect of older care recipients by nurses, we conducted a self-report study among in-home care workers in the German city of Hanover. A total of 503 nurses took part in the study; the response rate was 43.3%. Nearly 40% of all respondents reported having abused or neglected at least one patient within the last 12 months. Psychological abuse/verbal aggression and neglect were most common. Serious problem behavior could be predicted by patients' aggressive behavior, the number of clients suffering from dementia, subjects' use of alcohol as a means of alleviating work-related stress, and nurses' general judgments of quality of care delivered by the respective in-home service. The results of this study show that the problem of abuse and neglect of care recipients is not limited to nursing homes and care by family members. Findings point at opportunities for prevention and accentuate the need for further research in this field.