Primary care nurses' challenges, opportunities, and facilitators of elder abuse intervention in Malaysia

OBJECTIVES: To explore the views of nurses on challenges, perceived roles and improvement strategies concerning elder abuse intervention in Malaysia.

DESIGN AND SAMPLE: Eleven focus group discussions were conducted using a semi-structured interview based on the socio-ecological framework. The data were analyzed using a multistep process of thematic analysis.

RESULTS: Three themes emerged from the data analysis: (1) The predicament: being unwilling or not able to intervene (2) Bridging the older people and health system gap (3) Getting to grips with the barriers. There are multifactorial contributors identified at the individual, interpersonal, organizational, community and policy levels in each theme. These factors interact across the levels to influence nurses' capability to intervene in elder abuse.

CONCLUSION: A framework is needed to articulate Malaysian nurses' role in elder abuse intervention in terms of personal and professional development through culturally sensitive education and the establishment of clinical guidelines in the primary care setting. Strengthening organizational support and the institution of national policy and permissive reporting laws of elder abuse will empower the primary care nurses to address elder abuse in primary care settings and communities.