老人虐待と支援に関する研究—家族的背景からみた虐待の特徴

Study of Elder Abuse and the Nursing Support: The Characteristics of Elder Abuse Viewing from Types of Family Composition

　本研究では，地域の看護職が把握した事例から，家庭内の老人虐待の状況および家族的背景に基づいた特徴を明らかにすることを目的とした．埼玉県の全市町村の保健婦を対象に,1995年5月〜9月に郵送法で調査し52例の虐待事例を把握した．データ分析は，家族構成をもとに老人および加害者の状況などから量的，質的な分析を行った．家族構成別では，老人と息子夫婦が21例，老人2人暮らしが9例，ひとり暮らしが5例，老人と独身の子どもなどその他が17例みられた．虐待の種類は介護拒否・放任が29事例，情緒的・心理的虐待が25例，身体的虐待が21例であった．家族の関係性，介護力の問題から，それぞれの家族構成について虐待の状況に特徴がみられた．また，虐待の状況のパターンとして被害老人からの「回避」「放置」「隔離」「心身への危害」があることを導き出した．これによって，看護職の事例に対する援助のあり方と予防の対策について考察した．

　The purpose of this study was to clarify both the current state of elder abuse at home sites and its characteristics varied depending on types of family composition. An inductive qualitative study was conducted on 52 cases cared by nurses of their districts. Those 52 elder abuse cases were collected from the mail survey which was conducted among public health nurses of all districts in Saitama prefecture from May to September 1995. The types of family composition regarding those abuse cases included: 21 families of the elderly, his/her son and the son's wife; 9 families of elderly couple; 5 of the aged living alone; and 17 families of the elderly and his/her single child and other types. The quantitative and qualitative data analysis was made to find out how abuse types were varied due to family composition, and the state of both those abused and being abused. The result showed that the abuse types included: 29 cases of neglect and abandonment; 25 cases of psychological and emotional abuse; and 21 cases of physical abuse. The state of abuse were characterized by both the affectionate state of the family caregivers on the elderly and their capacity for caregiving of each type of families. The result also showed that those cases included four combined patterns of abuse: "neglect", "neglect-isolation", "neglect-isolation-abandonment" , "neglect-isolation-abandonment-physical and psychological harm". These findings help nurses support the elderly and their families in order to prevent abuse.