Submitted to:
Ms. Cherami Wichmann,
Senior Research Officer
Department of Justice Canada, Research Unit
284 Wellington Street, Ottawa ON K1A 0H8
EKOS
RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC.
January 2011
PWGSC Contract 19040-100111/001/CY
POR Registration
#POR 037-10
Contract Award Date: 08/09/2010
In May 2007 the Government of Canada created a National Seniors Council to give advice to the Government on matters of national importance to seniors. One of the first areas identified by the Council was combating elder abuse. Subsequently, in the Speech from the Throne on October 16, 2007, it was announced that new measures would be implemented to address elder abuse. In Budget 2008, the Government committed $13 million over three years to help seniors and others recognize the signs and symptoms of elder abuse and to provide information on what support is available.
The three-year Federal Elder Abuse Initiative (FEAI) started on April 1, 2008 and will conclude on March 31, 2011. One of the anticipated outcomes of the initiative is an increased societal awareness of elder abuse. As a result, the initiative required a follow-up public opinion survey to assess changes in awareness and understanding of elder abuse, following the materials and resources (as well as media campaigns) developed and launched in the last two and a half years. Two earlier studies examining views on elder abuse were conducted in May 2008 and February 2009 – where available, results are tracked from these previous studies to gauge any shifts in awareness and perceptions of elder abuse.
The 2010 study involved a 17-minute telephone survey with 3,012 respondents drawn from the general Canadian population. Respondents were 18 years of age and older, and were randomly selected (through random digit dialling). All provinces were sampled, and the survey was administered in both English and French. Surveying was undertaken between November 15 and December 10, 2010.
Outlined below are the key findings from the survey. The remainder of this report describes survey results in more detail.
As a way of establishing the context for the remainder of the survey, respondents were first asked whether or not they had heard the term “elder abuse”. Fully, nine in ten Canadians (93 per cent) say they are aware of the term, while fewer than one in ten (seven per cent) indicate they had not heard of this term. Claimed awareness of the term “elder abuse” is up a full 11 points since February 2009, suggesting that Canadians are becoming more familiar with this issue.
The survey went on to examine perceptions of elder abuse in Canada. Canadians were asked without prompting, to name, the kinds of abuse they believe seniors might experience. Physical abuse (e.g., hitting, spitting on) tops the list (mentioned by 55 per cent of respondents), followed closely by emotional/ psychological/verbal abuse (52 per cent). Financial abuse (43 per cent) and neglect (36 per cent) are also mentioned by a sizable proportion of the Canadian public. These results have changed somewhat since we asked this question in 2009: Canadians are now more likely to mention emotional/ psychological/verbal abuse and financial abuse, and are somewhat less likely to mention neglect.
In addition to naming the various kinds of abuse seniors may experience, respondents were asked to identify from a list the type of abuse they think is most commonly experienced by seniors (i.e., physical abuse, financial abuse, psychological/emotional abuse, sexual abuse, or neglect). Neglect is chosen as the most common type of abuse (43 per cent), followed by psychological/emotional abuse (25 per cent), and financial abuse (22 per cent). Interestingly, despite being mentioned most often as a top-of-mind form of elder abuse, only about one in ten Canadians (eight per cent) thinks physical abuse is the most common type of abuse perpetrated against seniors. Virtually no one feels sexual abuse is the most common form of elder abuse. These results have remained largely stable since we last asked this question in February 2009, although neglect is now identified somewhat more frequently than in 2009.
Respondents were also asked, unprompted, to identify the types of financial abuse that could be experienced by seniors. Results reveal that, as in 2009, Canadians are able to generate a sizeable list of potential financial abuses. At the top of the list was pressuring a senior to give money (mentioned by 32 per cent of respondents), followed by assuming/abusing control of a senior's finances (20 per cent), and misusing a power of attorney for personal gain (17 per cent). Telemarketing and letter scams (15 per cent) and using a credit card or bank card without their knowledge (12 per cent) were also seen as fairly common forms of financial abuse. Tracking reveals that Canadians are now more likely to mention pressuring a senior to give money, and abusing control of a senior's finances than they were in February 2009.
According to police-reported data, seniors are most likely to be victimized by someone they know.[1] Results from this survey seem to reflect this finding. Indeed, when asked, without prompting, who they pictured as being responsible for elder abuse, very few think of someone who is not at least acquainted with the senior (only 11 per cent say “stranger”). Overall, two main categories of perpetrators come to mind: a family member other than a spouse (75 per cent – up 17 points since 2009) and paid caregivers in institutions (48 per cent).
Canadians were also asked to select from a list who they thought would be the most likely to financially abuse a senior. In this context, a family member (not including a spouse) is once again named as the most probable perpetrator (62 per cent). Unlike elder abuse in general, no other category of individual is identified by a significant portion of the population. Indeed, all of the other categories on the list were selected by less than one in seven Canadians These results have remained largely stable since we last asked this question in February 2009, although the proportion of Canadians who identify a paid caregiver as being most likely to financially abuse a senior is up six percentage points since 2009 (to 14 per cent).
The survey also examined Canadians' beliefs about elder abuse in Canada. Respondents were read a series of statements and asked if they thought each of the statements was true or false. Results reveal that nearly all Canadians believe that most of the abuse experienced by older adults goes undetected (97 per cent indicate this is true, including 45 per cent who say it is definitely true). A similar proportion (93 per cent) agree that abuse experienced by an older person often gets worse over time (including 40 per cent who say this is definitely true). However, three-quarters of respondents (78 per cent) also feel that seniors today have more opportunities to get help than in the past. Canadians are also increasingly likely to believe that many types of elder abuse are crimes under the Criminal Code (77 per cent, up from 67 per cent in May 2008). More than seven in 10 Canadians also believe that older women are more likely to be abused than older men (73 per cent, although this is down six points since May 2008). Results further reveal a significant decrease in agreement with the idea that most instances of elder abuse occur in elder care facilities: 64 per cent of Canadians believe this statement to be true, down six percentage points since 2008.
The survey examined Canadians' preferred priorities for governments in preventing or stopping elder abuse. Results reveal strong support for all of the potential strategies examined, although support is strongest for policies designed to raise awareness. Eight in ten say that raising awareness among seniors about their right to live safely and securely (83 per cent) and raising awareness among the public about elder abuse (79 per cent) should be high priorities. Three quarters (75 per cent) believe that better enforcement of existing laws should be a high priority for governments, and a similar proportion (72 per cent) believe that providing more resources and information to organizations that deal with seniors is important. Making new laws to prevent elder abuse is seen as comparatively less important in addressing elder abuse, although a majority of respondents (60 per cent) still feel this should be a high priority for governments. Tracking reveals a decline in the proportion of Canadians who assign high priority to each of these strategies, particularly in terms of providing more resources to organizations that deal with seniors (down seven percentage points since May 2008).
Respondents were also asked if they felt that criminal laws should be strengthened to impose tougher sanctions on offences committed against seniors. Results reveal strong support for this idea: fully nine in ten Canadians (91 per cent) agree with bolstering Canada's criminal laws, including 67 per cent who “strongly” agree with this idea. Only six per cent disagree with this statement.
The survey also included a number of questions examining views on family violence. Respondents were presented with a list of four types of family violence (e.g., spousal abuse, child abuse, elder abuse, and sibling abuse) and asked to identify which one they consider to be the most prevalent. Interestingly, despite the focus on elder abuse in this survey, the plurality of Canadians (42 per cent) identify spousal abuse as the most prevalent form of abuse, followed by child abuse (30 per cent). Elder abuse is perceived as the most prevalent type of family abuse by about one in six Canadians (15 per cent), and only five per cent of Canadians feel that sibling abuse is the most common form of abuse.
Respondents were also asked, unprompted, to identify what they consider to be the primary causes of family violence. Results reveal that poverty/financial stress is seen as the primary cause of family violence (mentioned by 50 per cent of respondents), followed fairly distantly by drug or alcohol addiction (21 per cent).
Respondents were also asked to prioritize a number of potential government policies to help address family violence (half of respondents were asked these questions in terms of preventing family violence and half were asked about these policies in terms of stopping family violence). Looking at preventing family violence, three-quarters of Canadians believe that better enforcing existing laws (77 per cent) and raising awareness among the public (76 per cent) should be given highest priority, followed closely by providing more resources to organizations that deal with family violence (72 per cent). As with elder abuse, introducing new laws to deal with family violence is seen as comparatively less important, although a slight majority (53 per cent) feel this should be the top priority.
Results are virtually identical when the terminology is changed from preventing family violence to stopping family violence. Three-quarters agree that better enforcement of existing laws (77 per cent) and raising awareness among the public (77 per cent) should be top priorities. Seven in 10 (70 per cent) feel that the government should provide more resources and information to organizations that deal with family violence. And again, at the bottom of the list, just over half (51 per cent) feel that making new laws to deal with family violence should be given highest priority.
Supplier Name: EKOS Research Associates
PWGSC Contract Number: #19040-100111/001/CY
Contract Award Date: 08/09/2010
To obtain more information on this study, please e-mail por-rop@justice.gc.ca
[1] This information is drawn from the 2004 Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR2) Survey. See the Statistics Canada publication, Seniors as Victims of Crime 2004 and 2005, for more information.