Trends in elder abuse and age discrimination during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Hong Kong: Findings from a two‐wave representative telephone survey study.

Objectives: Empirical evidence about the heightened risks of elder abuse and age discrimination during the COVID‐19 pandemic is scarce. This study aimed to track the changes in rates of both, and investigated their associated factors in the community‐dwelling older population in Hong Kong. Methods: In this two‐wave, cross‐sectional telephone survey, we interviewed a population‐based sample of individuals (≥55 years), and captured the situation of elder abuse and age discrimination before the COVID‐19 outbreak (n = 1209, Wave 1: October–December 2019) and during the pandemic (n = 891, Wave 2: December 2020–January 2021). Participants reported their experiences of different types of abuse and discrimination, financial health, subjective well‐being, satisfaction with environment, health and social services, and resilience. Results: Abuse was reported by 20.2% of the sample before the outbreak and 17.8% during the pandemic; while discrimination was reported by 24.6% and 29.8% at the two time points, respectively. A drop in physical abuse was observed, but it was accompanied by a rise in discrimination in the form of harassment or refusal of services. Findings of logistic regression analysis show that abuse during the pandemic was associated with younger age, poorer subjective well‐being, and lower resilience; while discrimination was associated with female gender, being married, and poorer subjective well‐being. Conclusions: Elder abuse and discrimination were prevalent across time points. The pandemic has highlighted the marginalization of older persons in our communities. There is an urgent need for development of effective interventions to end abuse and discrimination. Key points: The prevalence of elder abuse in Hong Kong dropped from 20.2% before the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic to 17.8% during the pandemic.Older persons with younger age, poorer well‐being, and lower resilience were more likely to report elder abuse.The prevalence of age discrimination against older persons increased from 24.6% to 29.8% after the outbreak of the pandemic.Women, married individuals, and those with poorer well‐being were more likely to report age discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)