Source: UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING submitted to
ELDER FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION: IMPACT ON FAMILIES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0230864
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
WYO-485-12
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
W-2191
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Oct 1, 2012
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2017
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Vincenti, V.
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING
1000 E UNIVERSITY AVE DEPARTMENT 3434
LARAMIE,WY 82071-2000
Performing Department
Family And Consumer Sciences
Non Technical Summary
Elder financial exploitation (EFE) is a growing problem nationally with family members as frequent perpetrators using powers of attorney (POA). In the U.S. (and globally), incidences are predicted to escalate as longevity increases and the large baby boomer population becomes vulnerable (Stiegel and van Cleave-Klem, 2008). Regardless of financial, health, and cognitive status, older adults perceived to be vulnerable, are often targeted for financial exploitation which often co-occurs with other forms of abuse (Acierno et al, 2009; Jackson and Hafemeiser, 2011).Based on reported cases, Acierno et al (2009) estimated EFE afflicted 5.2 percent of those 65 and older (p. 53). In 2010 estimated annual victim financial loss was at least $2.9 billion (2010 Census, MetLife Mature Market Institute, 2011), not counting societal costs to Medicaid, the justice system, community service agencies, businesses, and costs incurred for prevention, education, and research. Additional costs incurred to secondary victims, such as family members trying to address the problem, include lost wages, legal expenses, and travel. The human toll often stresses family members emotionally, psychologically and interpersonally, causing conflict and estrangements, weakening directly affected families for generations and even families tangentially related.There are expanding resources to help professionals, older adults, and family members recognize financial abuse and what to do if it is suspected, but little is known about experiences of unreported cases, estimated from state-level studies to be as many as 10-44 cases per reported case (Lachs, 2011). The complexity of family relationships with frequent resource exchanges often make this crime difficult for family members to even recognize. When it is suspected, loyalty, family and/or personal pride, lack of understanding of what to do, and fear of the legal system discourage reporting and encourage secrecy even within the family.Many government and non-profit organizations are trying to address this problem through adoption of the model Uniform Power of Attorney Act, use of educational materials, workshops and webinars, and trainings for professionals. However, what is missing is identification of risk and protective factors that could be used to do careful analysis of family members and the family system to facilitate more informed decisions about who should be designated POA agent(s) and what arrangements in the planning documents and among family members to make that would increase the likelihood of success (lack of exploitation) during this elder dependency period.Although many lawyers, financial planners, and health professionals recommend establishing a power of attorney (POA) document and appointing someone to assist elders in legal and financial transactions. POA documents often give the appointed agent complete control over their finances with weak protective measures and limited oversight, creating a perfect environment for exploitation when an elder unwittingly gives powers of attorney to person at risk of becoming a perpetrator of EFE. The National Council on Aging reported that in almost 90% of elder abuse and neglect incidents are perpetrated by a family member with two thirds being adult children or spouses (NCOA, 2017). Why do trusted relatives betray that trust?Because EFE is frequently underreported and difficult to prosecute when reported, little is known about the whole of this problem. Although research has documented some characteristics of perpetrators and victims, contextual factors, little is known about the long-view what contributes to such financial exploitation. Prevention is the focus of this research could contribute to forestalling this predicted familial and societal crisis. In its pilot stage, participants included more unreported cases than reported, thus beginning to shed light on what has to date not been documented except for some anecdotal accounts.Research conducted by a multi-state team of researchers with Dr. Virginia Vincenti as P.I. and Dr. Bernard Steinman as a Co-Investigator, both faculty at the University of Wyoming, have used in-depth, open ended, (phenomenological) interviews of adult family members to gather data on family-member POA financial exploitation of an elder relative. The second data collection phase will include a structured survey to obtain demographic and situational details followed by in-depth interviews to obtain understanding of such things as family relationships, culture, values and exchange patterns that could review risk and protective factors in families related to the likelihood of EFE occuring within the family. The survey will provide a foundation for dividing the participants into successful (no exploitation) families and families who are or have experienced EFE. This will help to clarify factors influencing the outcome of an elder's dependency period.Ultimate goals are to increase understanding of family systems and intergenerational relationships which contribute to elder financial exploitation and of the negative impact on the lives of elders and their families. Dissemination of findings to professionals working with elders and their families such as attorneys, financial planners, bankers, counselors, accountants, social service and health professionals, academics, elders and families to contribute to prevention of this devastating problem. There are likely to be policy implications that result from this research, but other than urging adoption of the Uniform Power of Attorney Act by states, it is too soon to identify other policy recommendations that will emerge.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
70%
Applied
30%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
6076020305010%
8016020307030%
8026010302020%
8026010307015%
8036050301015%
8036050305010%
Goals / Objectives
1.Understand the participants lived experiences (knowledge and feelings) related to elder financial exploitation. 2.Identify factors in the victims/perpetrators family system that participants consider to be significant antecedents to the Power of Attorney elder financial exploitation in their family. 3.Gain insights into the victims and perpetrators family experiences that could assist professionals in facilitating healing of emotional and relationship wounds within families. 4.Identify the range and scope of family experiences related to foundational antecedents, exploitation situations, and impact and meaning of the elder financial exploitation that could contribute to prevention and effective redress. 5.Refine and/or expand the Conceptual Model of Elder Financial Exploitation by Rabiner, OKeeffe, and Brown, 2004. Objective 6. 6.Refine the current research design and identify future studies that could contribute to prevention and more effective redress of familial elder financial exploitation. Objective 7. Create a means of measuring the prevalence of elder financial abuse by family members who have had Powers of Attorney.
Project Methods
All studies will be conducted in compliance with the requirements of the University of Wyoming Institutional Review Board and approval will be obtained prior to any studies involving human subjects. Obj 1-6: A qualitative approach will be used for this initial study. Demographic factors will be collected to provide a basic background for different family members involved with a goal of finding patterns within and between families. Personally identifiable information will be de-identified to protect participants' confidentiality and all persons mentioned by the participants as well as participants themselves will be assigned fictitious names in the transcripts. All demographic information will be aggregated to protect the identity of individual participants. Participants must be 18 years old, male or female, English-speaking members of families that have experienced a financially exploited elder by another family member the elder entrusted with Powers of Attorney. They can be victims, family members, alleged perpetrators, or elders themselves (60 or older). A voluntary, convenience sample is being sought from public invitations primarily through senior centers, Area Offices on Aging, AARP, caregiver support groups, and faith-based organizations, through fliers distributed to working with families and elders, word of mouth, and research presentations. Because we want to understand the impact of family systems and on family systems, a snowball sampling approach will be used to obtain multiple perspectives from the same family. The plan is to continue conducting these audio-recorded, in-person or phone interviews until they no longer add to the range and scope of family experiences. Seidman's protocol involves three one-to-two hour separate interviews several days apart. In order for the interviewer to follow the family relationships in a participant's story during the interview, genogram notation will be used. A fact sheet of contact information for Adult Protective Services, Area Offices on Aging (adapted for participants' location) will be offered to all interested participants. Interviews will be conducted in a location that is private, neutral, convenient and as comfortable as possible for participants, and without interruption. Recordings will be copied onto DVDs as backup, deposited in Dropbox, a secure, cloud storage and retrieval site accessible only to designated persons such as the research team, and research assistants, the technical person who transfers the recordings to DVDs and deposits them in Dropbox, and the transcriber. Obj. 4, 5 & 7: Because the development of subsequent studies depends in large part on findings from the qualitative phase of this project, the description of this quantitative phase presents a basic framework rather than a completed project plan.

Progress 10/01/12 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:Since elder financial exploitation by family members is a widespread problem that could occur in families at any income level, we are not targeting a specific audience. In the survey we have begun to administer during this last year, we are actually broadening our target audience to include families who have both experienced alleged elder financial exploitation and who have not in order to identify risk and protective factors that either increase or decrease the likelihood that a family member will exploit and older relative. We are also trying to educate professionals (e.g. bankers, financial planners, CPAs, lawyers, APS personnel, law enforcement, social workers, therapists, family life educators, Extension Educators) who have some connection to families, older people, and elder abuse as well as families and middle-to-older age people to share what we have learned so far and to encourage them to address family issues before an elder becomes dependent because unresolved issues are likely to arise when the power structure of the family changes and stressful situations arise around an older relative's declining physical and/or cognitive condition. Changes/Problems:Because of the sensitive nature of this problem, it has been challenging to recruit participants for the survey we developed. We have been using various means to recruit including listserv flyers, social media, news articles, press releases, conference presentations, a website, networking among professionals whom we have encouraged to recruit participants from their own states. We have also had some additions to our research team and some who have dropped out. We have also reorganized our team to work more as a group of subteams working on different subprojects. This has shifted the effort away from completing the survey research that was earlier an effort of the whole team. Since the original PD retired and became emeritus, she has found more time to work on this research and the project has hired a professional who serves as a Research Assistant. Together they have significantly increased recruitment. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Attending conferences, sharing references, reading recently published literature, researching website materials from relevant government agencies and professional organization websites have helped to keep us current. I have also learned more about Qualtrics which we use for our survey. We continue to learn more about the powerful features of NVivo as we use it. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A Laramie, WY community meeting has been held to inform the public of elder financial exploitation by family members, our research findings, and recommendations for proactive prevention of this problem. There have been two articles in the Laramie newpaper. The joint judiciary committee of the WY State Legislature was informed in testimony supporting the Uniform Power of Attorney Act. A website has been developed as well. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Project Goal 1. To better understand the participants' lived experiences related to family-perpetrated EFE. During this period, we also prepared to do follow-up interviews to gain deeper understanding of the facts reported in the surveys. The insights gained during this process have been presented to the public and to specific professional groups working with older people and their families. Project Goal 2. To identify significant antecedents to EFE by family members, Vincenti continued working with a research subgroup of the multistate team to continue coding and analyzing interviews from the first data collection and to use this new analysis to write an article for a monograph to be published early in 2018. As stated in earlier reports, we are obtaining data on unreported cases previously undocumented. We have also collected survey data from 34 new participants belonging to two groups of families (those who allege EFE occurred and those who have allege no exploitation). Comparison of these groups' responses and interviews will help to identify risk and protective factors increasing or decreasing the likelihood of EFE being perpetrated by a family-member POA agent. Project Goal 3. Toward the goal of gaining insights into the family experiences of victims and perpetrators to heal emotional and relationship wounds, several themes have emerged from the interviews which we have shared in numerous professional and community presentations. Two themes in our qualitative analysis of interviews focus on family-member participants' descriptions of victim and perpetrator characteristics and experiences. Given this hard-to reach population because of the deeply personal and private aspect of family life, it has been quite a challenge to recruit participants, but we are making progress. Although we have sought multiple participants from each family to increase the validity of our findings, victims are often unable to participate due to cognitive and physical impairments or death and perpetrators are often not willing to participate. However, in the survey data collection several elders have participated. Project Goal 4. The range and scope of potential antecedents, exploitation situations, impacts and meaning of EFE that could help to prevent and effectively redress EFE is becoming clearer as we collect and analyze more data, but we have not yet reached what we can identify as saturation wherein we are gaining no new insights. This effort will continue as this project progresses in the future. Project Goal 5. This goal of expanding the Conceptual Model of Elder Financial Exploitation by Rabiner, OKeeffe, and Brown (2004) has been shifted to an adaption of the Bronfenbrenner Ecological Systems Model because it provides more guidance for understanding risk and protective factors and contributing influences. Project Goal 6. We have been continually working on this goal of refining the original research design and identifying future studies. The follow-up interview protocol has been revised and approved by the UW IRB to more systematically attend to the adapted Bronfenbrenner Model. We have added the comparison group of families without alleged EFE. Also upon the realization that we have no racial diversity in our sample we will strive to correct that in the future. Project Goal 7. This goal measuring prevalence of EFE by family-member POA agents was discarded early in the project as we learned more about the extent of underreporting and the lack of consistent data collection across states. In addition, there is no national database to aggregate state data that not would have the limitation of including only reported cases of EFE. Therefore, this is not a feasible goal.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Vincenti, V. B. (2016). Risk Factors within Families for Elder Financial Exploitation by Family Members. XXIII International Federation of Home Economics World Congress Abstract Book.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Vincenti, V. (2017). Risk and Protective Factors within Families: Preventing Elder Financial Exploitation (EFE) by Family-Member Power of Attorney Agents. Phi Upsilon Omicron Honor Society. The Candle. Spring 2017 98 (1): 12-13.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2017 Citation: Teaster, P. B., Vincenti, V., Betz-Hamilton, A., Bolkan, C. and Jasper, C. (2018). Themes from Elder Financial Exploitation by Family Member Powers of Attorney. In Gender, Sexual Identity, and Families: The Personal Is Political. Co-editors: Lyness, K. & Fischer, J. (Monograph, vol. 6).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2017 Citation: Betz-Hamilton, A. and Vincenti, V. B. (2018). Risk Factors within Families Associated with Elder Financial Exploitation by Relatives with Powers of Attorney. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Virginia Vincenti, Cory Bolkan, Axton Betz-Hamilton. (2016). Elder Financial Exploitation by Family Members. Washington State Family and Consumer Sciences Annual Conference, Grand Mound, WA, October.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Vincenti, V. B. and Steinman, B. A. (2017). Betrayal in Families: Factors Associated with Elder Financial Exploitation by Relatives with Powers of Attorney. Shepherd Symposium on Social Justice. Laramie: University of Wyoming. April 6.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Vincenti, V. B. (2017). Avoiding Elder Financial Exploitation: Factors Associated with Elder Financial Exploitation by Relatives with Powers of Attorney. Colorado and Wyoming Associations of Family and Consumer Sciences Conference. Larimer County 4-H Building, The Ranch, Loveland, CO. April 29.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Steinman, B. A., Betz-Hamilton, A. E., Bolkan, C. R., Jasper, C. R., Stum, M. S., Teaster, P. B., and Vincenti, V. B. (2017). Risk and Protective Factors for Elder Financial Exploitation by Family Member Power of Attorney Agents. International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics. (accepted, but withdrawn)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Vincenti, V. B. (2017). Elder Financial Exploitation by Relatives with Powers of Attorney. Community Program. St. Pauls United Church of Christ. Laramie, WY, September 14.


Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience for participation is English-speaking U.S. resicents 18 or older with at least one eldery relative 60 or older who has or has had an active family-member Power of Attorney agent to manage their affairs. We seek two groups of participants: those who have and those who have not experienced elder financial exploitation within their family system. Audiences we targeted to share our preliminary findings this year were U.S. and international family and consumer sciences professionals, professionals in various careers from different disciplines who are working to improve marriage and family including family therapists. Changes/Problems:As mentioned in earlier progress reports, we dropped Objective 7 once we realized that is was not feasible because there is no uniform state data collection system and therefore no federal data collection system. In addition with such a high estimate of unreported cases prevalence would be limited. After doing transcipt analysis without the aid of qualitative analysis software, the team decided that it needed a better approach, given the time demands on the team members with qualitative research experience. De-identify the transcripts, each involving numerous people, is not a simple task so that there would be no duplications across transcripts that would create problems when analyzing the coding. One team member worked on this and tried to write a program to do this, but after several years, has not completed that program. The level of details needing to be coded was too great and the volume of pages of transcripts too great to do this coding and analysis by hand, so we invested money in NVivo qualitative software. Unknowingly we had started using the software incorrectly during the trial period and entered it as pdf documents into NVivo instead of Word documents. This required some recoding after initially entering the sources (transcripts) back into the NVivo server. Our initial coding was too detailed since we were exploring research questions with no published research to guide us specifically in what we wanted to study. Because the research at that point was exploratory, we were unsure what themes would emerge. Consequently we coded too specifically which also led to inefficiencies. We have had to refine our codes again. This left us with less funding than ideal to hire a Project Assistant who could have done much of the detailed work we did. From May through December we were able to pay for support for about 20 hours per month. We have obtained several small grants, but tried unsuccessfully to obtain larger grants so that we could buy more support and more time to work on this complex, but promising project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Team members were trained on the use of NVivo qualitative analysis software and Qualtrics survey software. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have disseminated the results through presentations to the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Annual Conference, the International Federation of Home Economics XXIII World Congress and Groves Conference on Marriage and Family Annual Conference that draw professionals working with families and elders such as lawyers, academics, government personnel, social service professionals and others depending on the theme of the conference. Many of the audiences are themselves family members with family-member POA agents for older adult relatives. We submitted one publication to the Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences whose members also include secondary teachers, Extension educators, human service professionals, and government employees. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Goal 1: The coding subcommittee (including Vincenti) will finish coding and analyzing the remaining pilot interviews and the next phase of interviews. Goal 2: By adding a new group of family-member participants who have not experienced EFE to the next phase of data collection through survey and follow-up interviews, we will be able to identify and compare potential risk and protective factors within families affecting the likelihood of EFE by a family member. Although we will continue to focus on family-member POA agents as perpetrators, we plan to broaden the participants to include family-member perpetrations by other means of exploitation such as misusing trust accounts and creating accounts with joint ownership with rights of survival. Our survey includes other means so that we could have an initial pool of participants for the third phase of data collection. We will analyze that survey data, present it during the April 2017 Shepherd Symposium on Social Justice, and publish it in a family-focused refereed research journal. Steinman and Vincenti are conducting this study. Goal 3: we will continue to disseminate these findings to professionals who work with families and elders and to consumers through presentations at professional, community, and/or national organization meetings or publications that target mid-to-late-life consumers such as AARP and Extension outlets. Professionals include lawyers, financial counselors, therapists, Adult Protective Services professionals and others who work primarily with elders and family to do end-of-life and succession planning. We will need more than one year to accomplish all this. We also are committed to submit a manuscript for the Grove Conference on Marriage and Family monograph and have an abstract accepted for poster presentation at the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics in summer 2017. Goal 4: Participate with other research team members to do follow-up in-depth interviews with survey completers who have multiple family members willing to participate in both data collection phases. The in-depth interviews will provide detail about family experiences including family risk and protective factors, contextual factors, and experiences that will complement the survey data. Goal 5: By gaining greater understanding of risk and protective factors in family systems where family-members have been appointed legally responsible parties to manage an older relative's affairs, we gain details that can be used to expand the EFE conceptual model by Rabiner et al. (2004) that used an ecological framework to describe interactions between victims and perpetrators and their social networks. We will expand on this model by nesting the model within a family context. Goal 6: Based on the findings of the pilot research and the upcoming mixed methods data collection, we will refine instruments and design studies that build on this work. Additionally, we will continue grant writing to support this work. We could reallocate the time commitment of the researchers if we had continuing access to a Project Assistant. Therefore a priority for seeking new funding is to provide this support.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Ideally the ultimate impact of this research would be to measure a reduction in EFE by family members, but it is highly unlikely that we will be able to connect the findings directly to a reduction in number of EFE cases. Instead this research is focused on confirming risk and protective factors within families associated with whether or not EFE occurs. This information can be used by professionals who can, in their work with families have an impact on an individual basis. The findings are providing the foundation for educational approaches to help elders and their families, avoid EFE. The quantitative survey we have designed is expected to determine whether the qualitative findings using statistical analysis are valid. Current Findings Unlike available documentation on EFE cases only on reported cases, 7 out of 10 family cases were unreported. This is an important contribution to understanding EFE. In this project unreported family cases involved such potential risk factors as poor parental modeling of financial management, lack of parental financial education of children, tolerance and even enabling of younger generations' poor financial management, unacknowledged financial problems, lack of trust or misplaced trust within families, and conflict within families and/or conflict avoidance patterns. In 90% of the family cases POA agent perpetrators were relatives who lived closest to the victims without consideration of which relative was most qualified to manage financial affairs for the elders. Selection of POA agents need to be based on careful consideration of individual values, behaviors, and family characteristics and dynamics. For example, the following potential risk factors in families prior to exploitation have been identified for consideration in POA selection: lack of open, honest, and trusting relationships; unresolved or repressed conflict; use of power and control over other family members in relationships (dominance and acquiescent relationships among victims and spouses and spousal dominance of possible agents). Other potential risk factors included narcissistic behaviors such as lack of empathy, self-serving patterns, concern about one's personal and/or family's public image and materialistic values, personal financial management difficulties and parental enabling of financial irresponsibility and dependency; minimal parental involvement during childhood, favoritism, and substance abuse. Misplaced trust is a risk factor these findings address by increasing informed decision making by elders. Accomplishments related to project goals: Project Goal 1. In order to better understand the participants' lived experiences related to EFE, Vincenti worked with a subgroup of the research team to continue coding and analyzing interviews from the first data collection. NVivo software has helped us do much deeper analysis than we were doing before we obtained it. In addition to coding and analyzing transcripts for 10 families (13 participants), we had to reanalyze 4 transcripts that we had analyzed earlier without this software. An extension of this goal as originally stated, we are obtaining data on unreported cases which not been documented in other research. The only documentation on unreported cases available is in anecdotal accounts. Project Goal 2. To identify significant antecedents to EFE by family members, our further analysis of the interviews identified and clarified potential risk factors in the victims'/perpetrators' family systems. With additional knowledge and expertise of the newest team members, the research team dramatically redesigned the survey. Steinman designed an online version of the survey using Qualtrics software. The team chose this survey software because of its compatibility with NVivo software and to improve our capacity to merge qualitative interview data with quantitative survey data. A major accomplishment that supports this goal was our investment in NVivo qualitative software. This took quite a while to research various software packages and to try it to determine whether this was the best software choice. We then had to negotiate price and pay for the licenses for multiple team members, some of whom did not have AES support. We also created a server set up with UWIT and paid for server licenses for the transcript analysis subgroup members. The team spent considerable time learning to use this software. Project Goal 3. Toward the goal of gaining insights into the family experiences of victims and perpetrators for the purpose of healing emotional and relationship wounds, several themes have emerged from the interviews. The focus of our research is on family members other than victims and perpetrators. The rationale for this is that victims are usually unable to participate due to cognitive and physical impairments or death and perpetrators are often not willing to participate. We have so far had to study their experiences through the perceptions of other family members. If there are implications for healing of wounds within families, we have not identified them at this point. This goal has refocused on prevention rather than understanding EFE within families and healing families afterwards. To that end, we have expanded and redirected this research from studying the impact on families to seeking to identify risk and protective factors in families in an effort to provide a foundation for more effective planning for dependency that prevents EFE and for earlier monitoring of behaviors that could become EFE. Project Goal 4. The range and scope of potential antecedents to EFE and the impact of EFE on families (which could be a deterrent) cannot be met until further research is done with more participants. The upcoming survey with follow-up interviews will provide data that directly addresses this goal. Project Goal 5. This goal of expanding the Conceptual Model of Elder Financial Exploitation by Rabiner, O'Keeffe, and Brown (2004) cannot be addressed until more data is collected and analyzed. The upcoming survey with follow-up interviews will provide data that directly addresses this goal. Project Goal 6. We have been continually working on this goalof refining the original research design and identify future studies and have made more progress. The procedure for further data collection has been reexamined and revised since gaining 5 new team members who have expertise in gerontology, statistics, and research on family elder financial exploitation. Three of our team members have committed to making limited contributions as needed. Adopting the use of NVivo analysis software has been a powerful addition to our project, but it has also been a serious challenge to provide access and training to the team members who need it. Project Goal 7. This goal measuring prevalence of EFE by family-member POA agents was discarded early in the project as we learned more about the extent of underreporting and the lack of consistent data collection across states. In addition, there is no national database to aggregate state data that not would have the limitation of including only reported cases of EFE. Therefore, this is not a feasible goal.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Vincenti, V. B. V. (2016). Risk Factors within Families for Elder Financial Exploitation by Family Members. International Federation of Home Economics XXIII World Congress, Daejeon, Korea, August 2.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Vincenti, V. B. and Bolkan, C. (2016). Family Consequences of Elder Financial Exploitation by Relatives with Power of Attorney. American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Conference, Bellevue, WA, June 24.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2016 Citation: Betz-Hamilton, A. E., Vincenti, V. B., Jasper, C. R. (2016). Risk Factors within Families Associated with Elder Financial Exploitation by Relatives with Powers of Attorney. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Steinman, B. A., Betz-Hamilton, A. E., Bolkan, C. R., Jasper, C. R., Stum, M. S., Teaster, P. B., and Vincenti, V. B. (2017). Risk and Protective Factors for Elder Financial Exploitation by Family Member Power of Attorney Agents. International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics. Accepted for Presentation in 2017.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Vincenti, V. B. (2016). Risk Factors within Families for Elder Financial Exploitation by Family Members. XXIII International Federation of Home Economics World Congress Abstract Book.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Goebel, K. P., Vincenti, V. B., and Teaster, P. (2016). Consequences of Elder Exploitation by a Family Member Power of Attorney Agent: Intersection of Gender, Age, and Family Roles. Groves Conference on Marriage and Family. Denver, CO, August 8.


Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:Although we still seek target audience for our next round of data collection (English-speaking U.S. residents 18 or older, with an elderly relative 60 or older, who has or has had an active family-member POA agent to manage their affairs). We seek those participants in two groups: those who have, and those who have not, experienced elder financial exploitation (EFE). However, this year our audiences were Family and Consumer Sciences, consumer specialists and educator academics, who read our publications, watched our webinars, and attended our professional conference presentations. In addition, audiences included University of Wyoming College of Agriculture and Natural Resources faculty, staff, alums, friends and donors who received the College news magazine and the general public who read a news release published in their local newspapers. Changes/Problems:This past year there has been a big delay in getting NVivo software set up for team members and a server to permit the team to work on the data. It is very powerful software that is challenging and time consuming to learn. We made some mistakes early on in how we entered the sources and coded the data which required a lot of time to correct. We are still struggling with a major correction still needing to be completed. We were able to add 4 new team members in September and our productivity has increased. Three new team members have expertise and experience in gerontology and the fourth is a statistician who has been quite helpful in improving our sampling and data analysis approach for the second round of data collection. We have also spent a lot of time revising the survey and entering it in Qualtrics software. We also changed the methodology by adding a second group of participants to the second round of data collection to include families whose family-member POA agents have successfully carried out their fudiciary duties without exploiting elderly relative(s). This provides the opportunity to study protective factors in families for avoiding EFE as well as studying risk factors in families who have experienced EFE. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We did webinars for Family and Consumer Sciences professionals and for federal Work Life Coordinators that was offered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have done presentations, publications, and a news release. Dissemination of findings to professional and lay audiences to increase more careful end-of-life planning and decrease incidence of EFE. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Data Collection and Analysis Code remaining pilot interviews in NVivo and do additional analysis Finish revising the survey for the second round of data collection and get IRB approval Recruit participants for the second round of data collection (survey and interviews) and track different recruitment methods to determine the most effective means of reaching this hard-to-reach audience. Administer surveys in person or by phone and conduct follow-up interviews. Transcribe interviews using Dragon Naturally Speaking. Analyze survey data Presentations American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences conference presentation accepted IFHE world congress (Daejeon, S. Korea) presentation accepted (paper) Financial Therapy Association conference presentation accepted Groves Conference on Marriage and Family conference presentation accepted (paper) National Council on Family Relations conference presentation proposal submitted Illinois Council on Family Relations conference presentation submitted Gerontological Society of America conference presentation to be submitted Manuscripts A manuscript was submitted to the Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences. Submit manuscripts from presentations at IFHE Congress and Groves Conference. Submit manuscript on survey data. Grants Social Justice Research Center research proposal funded -----funding level not yet disclosed. Retirement Research Foundation grant proposal to be submitted, May 1, 2016 Apply for other grants as opportunities become available and as needed.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? GOAL 1 Understand the participants lived experiences (knowledge and feelings) related to elder financial exploitation We have continued to analyze interview transcripts from our pilot interviews and plan to collect more data from a larger sample after multiple revisions of our survey instrument are complete and IRB approves. This survey will precede in-depth interviews to gain understanding of the lived experiences of family members not only in families where elderly relatives have been or are being financially exploited by a family member POA agent and compare them to participants from families who have had a successful experience. We are now seeking to understand risk and protective factors in families that could be identified proactively to increase planning strategies to prevent EFE. Participants in a number of family cases reported problems with attorney selection. They told of unprofessional behaviors such as attorney conflicts-of-interest in assisting elder planning &/or asset management, dishonesty w/ relatives, & collusion w/ exploiter. GOAL 2 Identify factors in the victims/perpetrators family system that participants consider to be significant antecedents to the Power of Attorney elder financial exploitation in their family Preliminary results include patterns of POA appointment based on geographic proximity, gender bias, emotional attachment, disregard for competence. Other family risk factors include families/elders/agents lack understanding of fiduciary responsibilities; enabling financial dependency and fiscal mismanagement; childhood rivalries, power struggles, interpersonal or family conflict; inadequate family communication; personal/family identities tied to materialism & expectation of payment for services; and an ageist belief that an individual's worth is tied his/her ability to be productive. GOAL 3 Gain insights into the victims and perpetrators family experiences that could assist professionals in facilitating healing of emotional and relationship wounds within families. Nothing to report yet. GOAL 4 Identify the range and scope of family experiences related to foundational antecedents, exploitation situations, and impact and meaning of the elder financial exploitation that could contribute to prevention and effective redress. The coding of the pilot interview has identified risk factors and consequences of EFE that include the following overarching themes: Risk Factors for Elders Being Exploited, for Becoming a Perpetrator, Risk Factors from within Families and from Outside the Family, Professionals' Attitudes and Actions Contributing to EFE, Consequences of EFE on Elders, Consequences of EFE on Families, Consequences of EFE on Society, Preventing EFE, and Protective Factors within Families, and Implications of Findings. We have found that too often elders and appointed POA agents don't understand the powers and fiduciary responsibilities of a POA agent. We realize that some attorneys do no education of POA agents, have been able to provide information about resources that can used for that purpose. GOAL 5 Refine and/or expand the Conceptual Model of Elder Financial Exploitation by Rabiner, OKeeffe, and Brown, 2004. We have incorporated research risk factors from the following two publications Jackson & Hafemeister (2011) and Acierno's (2009) into our survey and interview protocol so that we can build on their work as well. Acierno, R., Hernandez-Tejada, M., Muzzy, W., & Steve, K. (2009, March). National elderly mistreatment study. National Institute of Justice. (Document No. 226456). Jackson, S.L., & Hafemeiser, T.L. (2011). Risk factors associated with elder abuse: The importance of differentiating by type of elder maltreatment. Violence and Victims 26(6): 738-757. However, we have not written or published anything on this objective per se, but as we gain more clarity on the risk and protective factors within families that seem to contribute to successful and exploitive POA agent behavior. We need to collect data on more family cases to be able to meet this goal. GOAL 6Refine the current research design and identify future studies that could contribute to prevention and more effective redress of familial elder financial exploitation The pilot research has contributed to a focus for forthcoming research on identification of risk factors for exploitation within families themselves. We have been refining the design by adding an instrument to collect facts related to cases before delving into in-depth interviews. This means we now have a mixed methods study. We are now using NVivo qualitative analysis software and have also added a statistician to our team in addition to three new team members with gerontology expertise. The detailed coding and analysis we are doing now will provide guidance for future studies by identifying potential patterns in the data that will need to be researched further. This approach using NVivo software is helping us manage much more detail than our earlier more general approach without the use of analysis software. To keep the project going we wrote a grant proposal: Vincenti, V., Jasper, C., Betz-Hamilton, A., Teaster, P., Steinman, B., Bolkan, C., Rudisuhle, D. 2015. Risk and Protective Factors within Family Systems Associated with Elder Financial Exploitation by a Family Member Power of Attorney. Wyoming Agriculture Experiment Station. $90,000.00 over 3 years. Unfunded. GOAL 7 Create a means of measuring the prevalence of elder financial abuse by family members who have had Powers of Attorney. We realized early in our project that we cannot measure prevalence not only because we don't yet have a consistent reporting system across the country and also because of the problem of extensive underreporting and non-reporting of cases kept as family secrets.

Publications

  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Media release: Steve L. Miller, Senior Editor, University of Wyoming Extension, Communications and Technology. (January 28, 2015). UW researchers study elder financial exploitation factors. http://www.wyomingextension.org/news/
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Hamilton-Betz, A.; Vincenti, V.; Rudisuhle, D.; Jasper, C.; Goebel, K. (2015). Elder Financial Exploitation within the Family System: What Family Members Experiences Reveal about the Causes, Consequences, and Perpetrators. Webinar sponsored by the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. March 4. [Featured in Jackson, C. W. (2015). Point of View, Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 107(2): 5-6.].
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Vincenti, V., Browne, L., Betz-Hamilton, A., & Jasper, C. R. (2013-2014). Clues to the Power of Attorney-Based Financial Abuse within the Family System. Journal of Consumer Education. 30: 45-58. Even though this was listed as published in the 2013-2014 issue of this journal, it was not published until 2015.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Vincenti, V. (2015). Researchers Study Elder Financial Exploitation Factors. Reflections Magazine. College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. University of Wyoming, Laramie: 15-17.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Vincenti, V., Betz-Hamilton, A., Rudisuhle, D., Jasper, C. Goebel, K. 2015. Risk Factors within Families Associated with Elder Financial Exploitation (EFE) by Relatives with Powers of Attorney (POA). American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Annual Conference, St. Petersburg, FL, June 26.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Betz-Hamilton, A. (2015, July). Family financial abuse. Presentation sponsored by Eastern Illinois University Academy for Lifelong Learning. Charleston, IL.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Vincenti, Virginia B. 2015. "Risk Factors within Families Associated with Elder Financial Exploitation (EFE) by Relatives with Powers of Attorney (POA)" in NIFA webinar entitled, Helping Elder Manage Money to Avoid Financial Missteps. nationwide EAP webinar for federal Work Life Coordinators offered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Washington, DC. May 20.


Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Audiences served by the presentations done this year include lawyers, secondary educators, university faculty, government and business personnel, Extension educators and specialists, senior citizens, and students, and victim advocate professionals and volunteers. Changes/Problems: Although we wrote an article using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach for analysis without the assistance of analysis software, last summer we decided that we needed to use NVivo qualitative analysis software to help us to manage and analyze the large volume of qualitative interview data with more precision and detail and to do it more quickly. This has been expensive and very time consuming to learn to use the software which has temporarily slowed our progress, but we believe it will be increase our productivity in the future. One team member left the project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Virginia Vincenti attended the Associatiion of Gerontology in Higher Education conference in Denver, February 27, 2014 through March 2, 2014. American Society on Aging conference in SanDiego, CA, March 11-15, 2014. I also joined this group which provides newsletters and journals. Our research team has also purchased NVivo qualitative and mixed methods data analysis software and a virtual server so that we can work together better despire being in 3 states. We have participated in multiple webinars and watched online videos to help us learn to use this powerful, but complex software. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? In addition to the 6 presentations we gave and articles published, there was also a press release that went out to all Wyoming newspapers and to the University communications listserv which included alums, donors, and many other people with connection to the University of Wyoming. Goebel, Karen P. 2013. Elder Financial Exploitation through Power of Attorney. Madison Financial Abuse Specialist Team. February 28, 2013. Vincenti, Virginia B. 2013. Elder Financial Exploitation: Why is it a Family Affair?. University of Wyoming, Wyoming Union. Shepard Symposium on Social Justice. April 5, 2013. Vincenti, V. B., Goebel, K. P., and Jasper, C. R. 2013. The Crime of Elder Financial Exploitation: A Threat to Community and Family Stability. Newton, MA. Groves Conference on Marriage and Family. June 5, 2013. Vincenti, V. B. 2013. Elder Financial Exploitation Via Powers of Attorney: Insights from Family Members' Experiences. Laramie, WY. 13th Consumer Issues Conference, October 4, 2013. Vincenti, Virginia. 2013. Elder Financial Exploitation: What Families Contribute and How They Are Affected? Keystone, CO. Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance. October 29, 2013. Rudisuhle, Don. 2013. Overcoming Impediments to Effective Protection of Elderly Victims' Assets. Keystone, CO. Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance. October 30, 2013. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We plan to gain more competence in using NVivo software so that we can more thorough analysis of the interviews we have already done. We will add demographic info to NVivo for further analysis. We will also enter the survey we have conducted and collect data to identify more participants in two groups--those whose families have experienced elder financial exploitation by a family members with Power of Attorney and those whose families have experienced no elder financial exploitation by a family members with Power of Attorney. These initial surveys will be analyzed and published separately from the follow-up interviews with participants from both groups who meet our selection criteria and who are willing to participate. We will continue to write grant proposals to support this research. We have been accepted for a webinar presentation through the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences and a conference presentation for the American Council on Consumer Interests. Other presentations will also be pursued. We plan to submit a proposal on avoiding elder financial exploitation within families to add to a University of Wyoming Extension planning ahead series on end-of-life. It is not clear that this will happen before the end of the next reporting period.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Understand the participants lived experiences (knowledge and feelings) related to elder financial exploitation. We have revised our interview protocol twice and created a survey to be the first step in data collection with the interviews to follow with those participants who meet our criteria and are willing to provide more in-depth accounts of their experiences with elder financial exploitation. This means that our survey participants are likely to have a broader range of experiences. In spite of focusing our research on risk factors for elder financial exploitation within families, we are still coding interviews for participants' experiences before, during and after the exploitation. Objective 2: Identify factors in the victims/perpetrators family system that participants consider to be significant antecedents to the Power of Attorney elder financial exploitation in their family. We have focused our research since our last annual meeting to focus on identification of risk factors in families which increase the likelihood of later elder financial exploitation happening by family members. Both the survey and the interview protocol are more structured now than the earlier two versions. Although we wrote an article using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, we have recently decided that we need to use NVivo qualitative analysis software which helps us to manage a large volume of interview data with more precision and detail and to do it more quickly, although the process is still quite time consuming. We are likely to broaden our criteria for participation in our research beyond the use of powers of attorney as a means of exploitation. The survey tracks the means of exploitation and our coding of interview pilot data is tracking multiple means and methods of financial exploitation. We are also planning to recruit participants whose families have successfully moved through their elders' dependent period without experiencing exploitation. Comparison of factors between the two groups of families could further clarify factors that increase risk and factors that seem to reduce risk. We are, however, concerned that successful families may be more difficult to recruit. So far families who have experienced exploitation have indicated that participation in this research, although somewhat painful to relieve, also eases their pain by attempting to prevent such experience for others by sharing their experiences. Objective 3: Gain insights into the victims' and perpetrators' family experiences that could assist professionals in facilitating healing of emotional and relationship wounds within families. We may have some insights that will address this objective, but we need to do more in-depth analysis after we complete all the coding using NVivo. Objective 4: Identify the range and scope of family experiences related to foundational antecedents, exploitation situations, and impact and meaning of the elder financial exploitation that could contribute to prevention and effective redress. We will need to continue collecting data and analyzing it to be able to identify what seem like a range and scope of family experiences. Objective 5: Refine and/or expand the Conceptual Model of Elder Financial Exploitation by Rabiner, OKeeffe, and Brown, 2004. We aregaining much more insight into the family dynamics, values, and relationships that will expand the conceptual model of Rabiner et al. We have incorporated Jackson & Hafemeister (2011) and Acierno's (2009) research on risk factors into our survey and interview protocol so that we can build on their work as well. Acierno, R., Hernandez-Tejada, M., Muzzy, W., & Steve, K. (2009, March). National elderly mistreatment study. National Institute of Justice. (Document No. 226456). Jackson, S.L., & Hafemeiser, T.L. (2011). Risk factors associated with elder abuse: The importance of differentiating by type of elder maltreatment. Violence and Victims 26(6): 738-757. Rabiner, D. J., O'Keeffe, J., & Brown, D. (2004). A conceptual framework of financial exploitation of older persons. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 16 (2), 53-73. doi: 10.1300/J084v16n02_05 Objective 6: Refine the current research design and identify future studies that could contribute to prevention and more effective redress of familial elder financial exploitation. Don Rudisuhle with assistance from graduate student, Catherine Webb, developed a system for searching and assigning pseudonyms to the interview transcripts. The detailed coding and analysis we are doing now will provide guidance for future studies by identifying potential patterns in the data that will need to be researched further. This approach using NVivo software is helping us manage much more detail than our earlier more general approach without the use of analysis software. Objective 7: Create a means of measuring the prevalence of elder financial abuse by family members who have had Powers of Attorney. This objective may not be doable until states have a common database and collect the same data that can be compiled. Even then, the secrecy surrounding this "family problem" makes it extremely difficult to measure prevalence. More importantly is the potential for this research to identify risk factors that can be addressed proactively in addressing family problems and in making better planning decisions for later life to avoid the risks of elder financial exploitation. Once these are identified, dissemination of this information is a key component of prevention. (2014-2015 Plans): (Objective 1 & 4): Continue grant writing as needed. Although not an attorney, Don Rudisuhle, as a fraud investigator who has worked with attorneys on numerous cases of elder financial exploitation, has contributed legal expertise to our team that has helped us understand some legal aspects of participants' experiences. (Objectives 1-5): Continue the in-depth interviews and now conduct surveys of family members of exploited elders and those who have had successful experiences with family POA agents. We will continue to submit manuscripts on the findings and share findings with academic and lay audiences. (Objectives 1-6): We will continue to seek additional researchers for this multi-state project and use the findings to design new studies. (Objectives 4, 5, & 6): We will also continue grant writing as needed.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2015 Citation: Vincenti, V., Browne, L., Betz-Hamilton, A., & Jasper, C. R. Secrecy & Elder Power of Attorney Financial Exploitation within the Family System. Journal of Consumer Education. (In press).
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Jasper, C.R.; Vincenti, V.; and Goebel, K. P. (2014). Power of Attorney and the Financial Exploitation of Elders: Family Impacts. Phi Upsilon Omicron Honor Society. The Candle. Spring 2014 95 (1): 14-15.


Progress 10/01/12 to 09/30/13

Outputs
Target Audience: Audiences served by the presentations done this year include graduate students in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences; marriage and family professionals including higher education faculty, Extension specialists, therapists, consumer professionals, university employees and students. Changes/Problems: Because we developed a survey and revised the interview protocol, revised the consent form, we submitted a modification which was approved by the UW IRB committee. During this reporting period we had not yet pilot tested these revisions. We added Dr. Lorna Browne, who is a free-lance professional with experience with hermeneutic phenomenology, to the research team and Dr. Axton Betz-Hamilton, Assistant Professor, Eastern Illinois University, who also has experience with phenomenology and with identity theft by parents of their children's identity. They both increase and diversify expertise in content, experience, and methodology in our team. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Objectives 1-3: Vincenti, V. B. (2013). Professional Development and Curriculum Development in Aging. Wyoming Geriatric Education Center. $3,060. March 2013 –September 2014, Funded for professional development for me to attend the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education conference in St. Petersburg, FL, Feb. 28 through Mar. 3, 2013. Not covered by this grant, I attended and presented at the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistants, Keystone, CO, Oct. 27-30, 2013. Objective 6: Mentored a master's student.who is working on this project as part of her assistantship. She has helped with the literature review and keeping a reference list updated, creatiing pseudonyms and replacing real names in the transcripts with pseudonyms and other deidentifying terms to protect the identity of the participants and those mentioned in the transcripts. She has also helped to organize details across all grants and grant proposals to be able to better manage plans and commitments. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Presentations at two professional meetings and a graduate seminar. Vincenti, V. B., Goebel, K. P., and Jasper, C. R. The Crime of Elder Financial Exploitation: A Threat to Community and Family Stability. Groves Conference on Marriage and Family. Newton, MA: June 5, 2013. Vincenti, V. B. Elder Financial Exploitation: Why is it a Family Affair? Shepard Symposium on Social Justice. April 5, 2013. Vincenti, V. Guest Lecture. UW FCSC 5103/5104 Graduate Seminar, Challenges of Studying Elder Financial Exploitation. 2/17/2013. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Continue doing interviews until we have up to 35 interviews representing 20 families' stories of POA implementation by a family member for management of an elder relative's assets. Analyze the pilot study initiated over the past 2 years to identify the variables, design, and particular methods needed to obtain adequate funding to conduct the next phase of this research. Refine a survey and revised interview protocol developed since the original pilot study. Focus more on Objective 3 to gain insights into the victims' and perpetrator's family experiences that could increase understanding of the origins of EFE by family POA agents for elder family relatives. Examine various recruitment strategies to obtain study participants because this is a hard-to-reach population including development of a website for recruitment and dissemination of results as we otain them. Use other forms of media (e.g. newspapers, radio, TV, a website, listservs, and social media), posters/flyers, and presentations at professional, community, and agency meetings will be used to obtain geographic, racial, ethnic, education, technological, and income diversity. Identify, design, and apply for external grant funding to implement an emergent study. Write manuscripts for refereed journals and do professional and community presentation. Develop factsheets and other forms of oral and written dissemination to the public and relevant professionals.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1 & 2: Vincenti, V., Browne, L., Betz-Hamilton, A. and Jasper, C.T. SECRECY AND ELDER POWER OF ATTORNEY FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION WITHIN THE FAMILY SYSTEM. This was in preparation for submission to the Journal of Consumer Education during this reporting period. Objective 3: We have not focused on this during 2013. We will give it more attention in 2014. Objective 4 & 5: Four Grants Submitted: Vincenti, V.B.; Betz-Hamilton, A.; Browne, L.B.; and Rudisuhle, D. (2013). Elder Financial Exploitation via Power of Attorney Abuse: What Family Members’ Experiences Reveal About This Problem, Its Causes, and Consequences. National Council on Family Relations Innovation Grant. December 1, 2013 through December 1, 2014, $10,000. (Submitted in September 2013, Unfunded) Vincenti, V.B.; Browne, L.; Jasper, C.R.; Goebel, K.P.; Betz-Hamilton, A.; Rudisuhle, D. (2013). Elder Financial Exploration Within the Family System. Retirement Research Foundation. $126,410.00, (Submitted in May, Unfunded) Vincenti, V. B. (2013). Financial Exploitation of the Elderly within the Family System. University of Wyoming Social Justice Research Center Grant, $3,000. March 2013-October 2014. (Funded) Vincenti, V. B., Goebel, K. P., Jasper, C. R. (2012). Multistate Research Project W2191, Elder Financial Exploitation: Impact on Families. approved. October 1, 2012 through September 30, 2017. $3,600. October 1, 2012-September 30, 2013. (Funded) Objective 6: We have revised the interview questions to fit van Manen's approach to phenomenology rather than Seidman's approach used earlier. We also developed a survey to be used before the interviews to obtain demographic information that would determine whether volunteers qualify to be interviewed. The survey will also collect some of the demographic data that will make the interviews more effective and efficient because such details will not need to be collected during the interview and then extracted later from the transcripts.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2013 Citation: Vincenti, V. B., Goebel, K. P., and Jasper, C. R. The Crime of Elder Financial Exploitation: A Threat to Community and Family Stability. Groves Conference on Marriage and Family. Newton, MA: June 5, 2013. (not published)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2013 Citation: Vincenti, V. B. Elder Financial Exploitation: Why is it a Family Affair? Shepard Symposium on Social Justice. April 5, 2013. (not published)