Recipient Organization
VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
(N/A)
BLACKSBURG,VA 24061
Performing Department
Center for Gerontology
Non Technical Summary
?Elder financial exploitation (EFE) is an emerging health, financial, and social crisis across the United States. EFE is defined as a situation when a family member is the perpetrator involved in the "illegal, unauthorized, or improper use of an elder's resources including funds, property, or assets" It is widely agreed that EFE is the most prevalent and growing type of elder abuse and it knows no boundaries. Elders and families across all socio-economic levels, rural and urban settings, ethnicities, and genders are at risk of experiencing EFE. There is much anecdotal and empirical evidence suggesting a dramatic increase in EFE, including a tripling of the aging population by 2050, unless effective and evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies are undertaken.The impact of EFE goes well beyond the economic losses, affecting an older adult's physical, mental, emotional and psychological health and well-being. Not surprisingly, there are concomitant effects on an elder's family systems, influencing relationships, functioning, and individual health and well-being of non-perpetrators and perpetrators. The effects widen to include communities and local and state governments. EFE can result in elders and family members increasing their reliance on public resources and programs (i.e. physical and mental health) for both short and long terms. Moreover, EFE increases the demands on already stretched intervention systems, law enforcement and criminal justice systems. Although EFE is generally not well understood, less well understood is EFE by a power of attorney (POA).This project develops and disseminates research-informed specifically on EFE by a POA prevention and intervention education for researchers, practitioners, and family members and with the long-term goal of safeguarding the health, and economic and social well-being of adults in later life, intergenerational family systems, communities and larger society. First, the project focuses on understanding how non-perpetrator, non-victim family members perceive and articulate the meaning and experience of EFE by a POA. The project will also involve interviews and databases of Adult Protective Services in Virginia and Washington State in order to understand the scope of the problem and its remedies. Data will be analyzed qualitatively as well as quantitatively. Findings will provide insights into how to prevent and respond to elder financial exploitation by a power of attorney in the future. Next, findings will be translated and disseminated to researchers, elders, family members, and professionals in order to advance EFE by a POA prevention, education, and intervention efforts. A range of collaborators and partners will be involved in state and national dissemination efforts (e.g. University of Washington, Vancouver, Virginia Adult Protective Services). Overall, this project addresses critical research and prevention education gaps in what is known about EFE by inquiry decades behind that of child abuse and domestic violence.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
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
Our three-year mixed methods study involves two phases. Phase I involves recruiting participants and implementing a survey regarding the appointment of a family member POA (Power of Attorney) agent by an older relative (Assessment of Intra-Familial and Contextual Factors Contributing to Elderly Financial Management Outcomes). The survey will include approximately 90 questions on demographic information (e.g., age, sex, race, education) and other facts related to EFE (e.g., family communication patterns and family money management practices). Participants encountering successful experiences involving a family member POA will be compared with those who indicate that the family member used his or her POA authority to exploit an elderly relative. Information about EFE includes family dynamics, power relationships, and family communication patterns to identify statistically significant and practically significant differences indicative of risk factors, as well as protective factors, including having trusting relationships with family members and active engagement in personal financial and estate planning.Phase II will involve conducting semi-structured interviews with participants who report positive experiences with POA implementation in their family, as well as those who indicate elder financial exploitation occurred within their family. We will further explore survey item responses as well as gather in-depth information about each family's unique experiences with EFE. Based on our pilot research, it is expected that participants will be family members of an elder who appointed another family member to serve as POA. It is expected that two semi-structured interviews, lasting approximately one hour each, will be conducted with each participant. Interviews will be recorded and transcribed using Dragon Naturally Speaking software. The qualitative data will be analyzed using NVivo 10 and the quantitative data will be analyzed using SPSS version 23.