“They just did what they usually do”: Mistreatment, abuse, and neglect in nursing homes from the perspective of Ministry of Health auditing teams

Sagit Lev, Pnina Dolberg, Barbara Lang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

The aim of this article was to examine how Ministry of Health auditing teams experience quality of care, mistreatment, abuse, and neglect in nursing homes in Israel. The research included four in-depth focus groups consisting of 19 multidisciplinary auditors. The qualitative analysis was encoded in stages with repeated comparisons between individual participants and within groups and led to three main themes: (1) Failure in addressing basic, personal, and social needs of residents in nursing homes; (2) Mistreatment manifested in violation of residents’ privacy and human dignity, neglect, and physical harm; (3) Abuse, including psychological, financial, and physical abuse. The findings can be explained by the characteristics of nursing homes as total institutions, as well as perceptions of ageism and de-humanization of the residents. In addition, the findings highlight the importance of the auditing role in monitoring the nursing homes’ quality of care and the safety of the residents.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)24-31
Number of pages8
JournalGeriatric Nursing
Volume48
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Nov 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Auditing teams
  • Elder abuse
  • Elder mistreatment
  • Elder neglect
  • Nursing home

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Gerontology

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