Patterns of Elder Abuse in Okpofe Community Ezinihitte Mbaise Local Government Area, Imo State

Abstract

It is often heard that elder abuse occurs in Okpofe Ezinihitte Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State. So, the researcher decided to carry out a study in this area.
The study was conducted to investigate the patterns of elder abuse in Okpofe Ezinihitte Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State. Seven specific objectives were formulated with seven corresponding research questions and six null hypotheses were also postulated to guide the study. The cross-sectional research design was used for the study. The population of the study consisted of all the elders in Okpofe Ezinihitte, Mbaise. While the sample for the study consisted of 203 elders in Okpofe. The purposive sample procedure was used. A structured questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. The instrument was validated by five experts. Percentage was used to answer research questions while Chi-square statistics was used to test the null hypothesis at 0.5 level of significance (P=value=0.5). Split half was utilized to establish the reliability of the instrument. The results of the showed that: Elders of Okpofe experienced physical, emotional, sexual and economic abuses. Temporal physical, emotional, and sexual abuse occurred in the morning, afternoon and evening while spatial physical, emotional, and economic abuse occurred at home, meetings, market and political rallies. There were significant differences in the temporal pattern of elder physical abuse (χ2 =135.791, df = 21, P<0.05) and spatial pattern of elder physical abuse (χ2 = 374.6783, df = 35, P<0.05). There were significance differences in the temporal pattern of the elder emotional abuse (χ2 =130.750, df = 18, P<0.05) and spatial pattern of elder emotional abuse (χ2 = 321.917, df = 35, P<0.05). There was significant difference in the temporal pattern of elder sexual abuse (χ2 =232.273, df = 15, P<0.05). There was significant difference in the spatial pattern of elder economic abuse (χ2= 559.402, df=20, P<0.05). Based on the findings the social workers ,voluntary agencies, the mass media and concern individuals should be used to disseminate information regarding the elder abuse and also elder abuse should be prohibited by law establishing it as a criminal offence publishing under the law, so as to give hope and protection to the elderly in general.