RESEARCH

Elder abuse in Victoria: an analysis of 7 years of data

NARI analysed seven years of Seniors Rights Victoria data to better understand elder abuse in Victoria.

With funding from the State Trustees Australia Foundation, in collaboration with Senior’s Rights Victoria (SRV), NARI analysed seven years of data to better understand elder abuse in Victoria.

• In 91% of cases the abuse was perpetrated by a family member of the clients, most commonly sons (39%) or daughters (28%).
• 72% of advice call clients were women, mostly in their 70s.
• 60% of clients had one or more disabilities.
• Psychological abuse (63%) and financial abuse (62%) were the most commonly reported types of abuse followed by physical abuse (16%) and social abuse (11%), with many clients experiencing more than one type of abuse.

There was an increase of 17% in the proportion of perpetrators experiencing mental illness and also in those with a gambling or substance abuse problem (increase of 7%).