ABSTRACT
Research has documented abuse in children, spouses and the elderly population. Child abuse was reported in the literature as early as 1961. Spouse abuse has been studied for the past 20 years. Elderly abuse became evident to researchers in the early 1970’s. At least one other group of persons seems to be abused: the caregivers of the elderly by the elderly institutionalized patient. As a caregiver, in an skilled nursing facility, I experienced frustration because of the lack of information and the lack of systematic research concerning this problem.
