[Early detection and prevention of elder abuse and neglect in family care giving: development of the PURFAM assessment]

Abstract

The purpose of the PURFAM ("potentials and risk factors of family caregiving for older people") project is to support staff members of home care services in preventing elder abuse by facilitating an assessment instrument for early recognition and a standard for action. During a pilot phase of the project nursing staff of home services were presented with training sessions in which the use of the PURFAM assessment was introduced using concrete examples from routine daily work. The article describes the development of the PURFAM assessment and its first evaluation by staff members of nursing home services. The preliminary results indicate a high practicability und acceptance of the instrument by staff members. The sustainability of PURFAM is yet to be tested using the data of the still ongoing main part of the evaluation.