Elder Abuse: Its Meaning to Middle-Aged and Older Adults-Part I: Instrument Development

Two instruments that measure the public's perceptions of the meaning and types of elder abuse were developed and tested with 104 respondents. The taxonomy and definition of elder abuse developed by elder mistreatment experts (Hudson, 1988, 1991) and Straus's Conflict Tactic Scales (1979) provide the theoretical foundations of the instruments. The Elder Abuse Vignette Scale (EAVS) includes behavioral examples in a semantic differential scale format. The Elements of Elder Abuse Scale (EEAS), using a Likert format, presents statements on each of the essential characteristics of the theoretical definition and taxonomy categories. Instrument development is described and results offered that indicate the scales provide sensitive and valid measurements of respondents' perceptions of the meaning and types of elder abuse.