Research on Mistreatment of People with Dementia by their Caregivers

In a study by the University of California, Irvine, Program in Geriatrics published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, nearly half of the people with dementia who participated had been mistreated. Specifically, 42% (54) experienced psychological abuse, 10% (13) physical abuse and 14% (18) caregiver neglect. Center of Excellence

The following factors or characteristics of the caregivers and the participants with dementia were risk factors for one or more types of mistreatment.

1. Caregiver: higher anxiety, more depressive symptoms, fewer social contacts, greater perceived burden, as well as two other measures of poor emotional well-being from a widely used survey.
2. Person with dementia: more psychological aggression (for example, swearing at the caregiver) and any physical assault (for example pushing or shoving the caregiver) behaviors.