World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2024
By Ashley Barnes, M.S. What is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day? Each year on June 15th, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is observed to spread awareness of elder abuse and neglect with efforts to prevent it. A major goal of World Elder Abuse Day is to provide education pertaining to the social, cultural, demographic, and economic situations that impact elder abuse and neglect. Elder abuse. An elder is anyone age 65 or older and elder abuse describes any intentional act or failure to act that causes a risk of harm to an older adult (CDC, 2024). A sad truth about elder abuse and neglect is that it often occurs at the hands of a caregiver or person the elder trusts. Elder abuse is a serious problem in the United States with about 1 in 10 older adults over the age of 60 having experienced some form of it (CDC, 2024). …