ELDER ABUSE PREVENTION: LESSONS FROM FOUR INITIATIVES

The Administration for Community Living awarded five cooperative agreements to support elder abuse prevention initiatives. This symposium describes findings from four of those agreements. The discussant is Helen Lamont from Health and Human Services. Dr. Burnett will describe a 12-month medication adherence intervention developed for victims who were substantiated for self-neglect by Texas Adult Protective Services (APS). Findings revealed 65% of victims had > 9 medications, with complex medication regimens. Those completing at-least two assessments were more likely to comply with medication adherence. Dr. Ejaz will discuss how two APS workers who were embedded in a healthcare system in Texas trained 826 primary care clinicians in 63 clinics. Clinicians had significant improvements in knowledge of abuse and its reporting from pre-to-post training but not at follow-up. Of 7,000+ patients screened for abuse, only 34 reports of suspected abuse were made to APS. Clinicians consulting with APS liaisons during the same time period reported 500+ cases of suspected abuse to APS. Dr. Breckman will discuss the implementation of Enhanced Multidisciplinary Teams that included forensic accountants and gero-psychiatrists to address financial exploitation. An end to exploitation was reported in 69% of cases. In upstate NY, the project realized $530,000 in court-ordered restitution. Dr. Olsen will discuss the Abuse Intervention/Prevention Model study. 76 older adults with dementia/caregiver dyads were administered assessments of abuse risk at baseline, given resource referrals to mitigate those risks, and reassessed at three month follow-up. Analyses examined pre-post changes in risk profiles, service utilization rates, and APS engagement.