A decision-making model for diagnosing and intervening in elder abuse and neglect.

There is an absence of empirical data about how health care providers operationally define and conceptualize abuse and neglect of the aged and the decision processes involved in assessing and identifying neglectful and abusive relationships. The grounded theory technique was used to formulate a 4-stage decision-making model. Tape-recorded interviews of a sample of 29 health care providers were coded and analyzed. The model identifies three types of decisions (diagnostic, value, and intervention) and the categories health care providers consider in making these decisions. The complexity of the decision processes is revealed in five pathways through the model. The hypotheses from the data can serve as a guide for future research aimed at assisting health care providers to make better decisions about intervening in situations where elders are being cared for by relatives in the home setting.