Elder Abuse and its Impact on Cognitive Functioning

The study examined the impact of age, gender and elder abuse on cognitive functioning of elderly. A total of 162 elderly people were selected from Gorakhpur and Maharajganj, districts of Utter Pradesh. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select the area and purposive sampling technique was used for their participation in the study. Elder Abuse Checklist was used to assess various forms of abuse and Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination-III (ACE-III) was administered to assess cognitive functioning related to attention, memory, fluency, language and visuospatial ability in elderly. Univariate analysis technique was used for data analysis. ANOVA results revealed that cognitive functions were significantly influenced by age, gender and level of abuse. More specifically, younger elderly exhibited superior cognitive functioning as compared to older group. The significant influence of gender on cognitive functions also indicates that male elderly have displayed better cognitive functioning as compared to female counterparts. Despite this, elder abuse caused adverse impact on cognitive functions of elderly. Specifically, high abused elderly displayed poor attention, memory, language, fluency, visuospatial ability and cognitive functioning (as a whole) as compared to low abused counterparts. Findings are discussed.