An understanding of abuse in the Hispanic older person: Assessment, treatment, and prevention

This article offers a discussion of abuse in the Hispanic older person popu lation, conceptualized from within a cultural framework including assessmen t and treatment. Basic cultural values such as familism, marianismo, machis mo, and respeto are considered essential elements to the understanding of t his framework. Acculturation, migration, and socioeconomic factors are also presented as important factors in rile understanding of this problem. This article emphasizes how expectations based on cultural aspects and values c an unintentionally increase the risk of neglect and/or abuse. The concepts of caregiver stress and dependency widely discussed in the older person abu se literature are integrated in the discussion of older person abuse in the Hispanic.