ABSTRACT
In the well known “Frognerpark” in Oslo, capital city of Norway, the artist, Gustav Vigeland has, through his monumental sculptures, described man’s journey of life from birth to death. All phases of life are depicted there: childhood, adolescence, manhood, and old age. It is abuse when old people are made to share their room in a nursing home with other people, strange to them, when they become so old and weak that they are not able to take care of themselves in their own homes. It is abuse of the elderly when they are subjected to street violence, robbed of their purses, social security money, and personal belongings, because society has not budgeted enough funds to give protection to the elderly against street criminals. Although definitions of elder abuse vary in the literature, there have been four major categories of abuse identified by the majority of researchers. These are physical abuse, psychological abuse, financial or material abuse, and neglect.
