Examination of Elder Abuse and Death Anxiety in Older Adults With a Chronic Disease.
Seda Karaman, Gülcan Bahçecioğlu Turan, Merve Çayır Yılmaz and 1 others
PMID 39754390WHAT IT FOUND
In 200 older adults with chronic disease, 73% were at elder abuse risk and death anxiety was high (8.66 of 15).
Higher abuse risk was linked to higher death anxiety, but the study cannot show abuse caused anxiety.
Key findings
0173% of participants had a risk of elder abuse, and the mean death anxiety score was 8.66; the scale treats 7 and above as high.
02Higher elder abuse scores were associated with higher death anxiety scores, and the paper reports this association explained 38% of the death anxiety score variation.
03Abuse scores were higher with older age, female gender, and employment; death anxiety scores were higher in women.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study measured abuse and death anxiety at one time, so it cannot show that abuse caused death anxiety or that death anxiety caused abuse. Participants were recruited by convenience sampling from one hospital clinic in Turkey, so the results may not apply to other older adults or other countries. All key measures were self-report questionnaires, and the authors note common method bias is possible. People with a psychiatric problem were excluded, so older adults with psychiatric conditions were not represented. The sample was mostly illiterate and had low income, which may limit transferability to older adults with different education or economic status. Many characteristics were tested in regression models, and the paper does not report adjustment for multiple testing.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. No funding statement is provided in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that elder abuse causes death anxiety. The study measured both at one time in 200 older adults with chronic disease, so it can show association but not which came first or why.