Elder abuse, resilience, and health-related quality of life: evidence from a cross-sectional study among older adults in Sanandaj, Iran.

BACKGROUND: Elder abuse constitutes a significant violation of human rights and is linked to various harmful psychological and physical consequences. This research aimed to investigate these effects by assessing the prevalence of elder abuse and its relationship with resilience and health-related quality of life among older adults who attended the comprehensive health centers in Sanandaj, Iran, in 2023. METHODS: This study employed a cross-sectional design that involved 200 elderly individuals who sought services at comprehensive health centers in Sanandaj city, located in the Kurdistan province of Iran, in 2023. Participants were chosen through a two-stage process. The data collection instruments included a form for recording demographic information, a questionnaire on elder abuse, and the CD-RISC measure. Data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression, along with the Pearson Correlation test in STATA12 software, setting the significance level p-value ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: The findings revealed that 57.5% of the participants had encountered some form of abuse, with psychological abuse being the most prevalent at 50%. The examination illustrated a significant relationship between the extent of elder abuse and the average mental health scores (p=0.001), resilience (p=0.001), living situation (p=0.05), and Educational level (p=0.05). Furthermore, there was a statistically significant relationship between resilience scores and mental health (r=0.572, p less than 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the research indicated that a majority of elderly individuals had faced abuse, with higher occurrences among those who were illiterate and resided in rural settings. The findings also suggested that older adults with greater resilience scores experienced lower levels of elder abuse and reported better mental health.