Abuse case inspection that is not protected by the Elderly Abuse Prevention Act and Creation of a concept of abuse that can rescue a wide range of cases

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K02244
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 08020:Social welfare-related
• Research Institution: Seitoku University
• Principal Investigator: Hitoshi Suda 聖徳大学, 心理・福祉学部, 准教授 (40369400)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 高齢者虐待 / 高齢者虐待防止法 / WHOによる高齢者虐待の定義 / 養護者による高齢者虐待

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the field of elder abuse response, there are cases that do not fall under the provisions of the Elder Abuse Prevention Act, resulting in situations where the elderly are not protected. A study focused on 497 reported cases of elder abuse in Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture, from 2017 to 2019, of which 299 cases aligned with the legal definition of abuse and 475 cases aligned with the WHO definition of elder abuse. Among the 198 cases not considered as abuse according to the law, 176 cases were identified as elder abuse according to the WHO definition. This means that 35.4% of the 497 cases studied were not classified as abuse according to domestic law. There is a significant number of abuse cases in elder abuse reports that are not protected by the law, highlighting the need for a more comprehensive legal definition.

Free Research Field

高齢者福祉

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

国内全体で松戸市と同様の通報内容を仮定すると、全国の高齢者虐待の報告件数34,057件のうち、12,060件が実際には虐待を受けているにも関わらず高齢者虐待防止法の保護を受けられていない可能性があると推測される。高齢者虐待防止法の定義は、世界基準のWHOの概念と比較しても非常に狭い範囲である。実際には虐待を受けている多くの高齢者が、虐待防止の法的保護の対象外であることが国内の大きな問題であり、法改正による高齢者虐待防止法の定義を改定し、高齢者の権利を擁護できる定義にする必要がある。