Domestic violence against seniors in rural areas of West Pomerania, Poland

Introduction and objective. The study on domestic violence in rural areas of Western Pomerania (Poland), carried out in October 2017, aimed at determining the scale of domestic violence against the elderly, taking into account its 5 forms: psychological, physical, economic and sexual violence, as well as negligence. Materials and method. The research concept was implemented with the use of a representative sampling method by means of a questionnaire-based audit interview, and using research tools to measure the social scale of the phenomenon of domestic violence, the victims of which were the elderly from one of the rural communes of Western Pomerania. Results. The basic results of the survey were as follows: 1) 40.1% of seniors reported experiencing violence from their family members; 2) 36.5% experienced psychological violence and 21.9% – negligence; 3) 8.8% were victims of economic violence and 5.1% – of physical violence; 4) sexual abuse was the least frequently reported – 0.7%. Conclusions. Domestic violence in rural areas could affect as many as 40% of seniors. Generally, they admitted to experiencing one of the 5 forms of violence distinguished in the study, of which acts of psychological violence were predominant. Negligence and economic violence were relatively less frequent. Physical violence was even less prevalent. On the other hand, 8.1% of seniors experienced 3–4 forms of violence, which could be considered as a situation of increased risk of pathologisation of their family life.