Aging & Society: Eighth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

The aim of this study is to unfold the nature, causes, and consequences of elder abuse and neglect in rural Bangladesh. The study used a mixed method approach, where a social survey and an in-depth case study methods were employed. Results revealed that poverty, breaking family, decrease of earning capacity, dependency, health hazard, maladjustment, changing social norms and values, and natural calamity had distinct causations of elder abuse. The study also found that the older people in rural areas were physically, mentally, financially, and verbally abused and neglected and that were related with their social isolation, loneliness, illness, fear, stress, and tendency to commit suicidal attitude. The findings would be important guideline to the policy makers, human rights practitioners, government and non-government organizations.