Primary Prevention Interventions for Elder Abuse: A Systematic Review

The aim of this review is to synthesise evidence on the effects of primary prevention interventions targeted at the drivers of elder abuse, and to identify the factors that influence the effectiveness of these interventions. The review was conducted in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. The search for literature was performed in six databases: Ovid Medline, Ovid Embase, AgeLine, PsycINFO, Web of science, and Sociological abstracts. A narrative synthesis was used to summarize the results. The literature search yielded 10,987 articles of which four were eligible for inclusion. All four elder abuse primary prevention interventions were intergenerational programs. We found limited evidence that intergenerational programs can be effective elder abuse primary prevention strategies by countering ageism including overcoming age-related stereotypes in both community and institutional settings. The review points to limited evidence on the effects of primary prevention interventions targeted at the drivers of elder abuse. The current limited evidence, however, suggests that effective elder abuse prevention interventions are contingent on several factors including the type of implementation approaches used, and the specific mechanisms that may be at play during the implementation process.