Design and Methods
Sample
Data collection was supported by a research agreement with the Illinois Department on Aging (IDOA), which advocated the recruitment of the elder abuse providers and clients for the project. With IDOA’s support, recruitment was from seven adult protective services agencies in Chicago and its collar counties. Two samples were established: first, 22 highly experienced elder abuse staff members were recruited from these agencies. Because interviewing clients with a standardized questionnaire was not previously done as part of their screening procedures, the elder abuse staff members were trained in interviewing for this study by the two lead authors. The staff members also completed the human subjects subcommittee online training program of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). The human subjects research proposal and informed consent forms were approved by the UIC institutional review board via the human subjects subcommittee. All 22 participating elder abuse staff members were volunteers and gave informed consent. Second, the elder abuse staff recruited and screened clients for ability to consent to research participation and for their ability to serve as reliable reporters of abuse. A key component of the interview was the assessment of cognitive status using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE; Folstein, Folstein, & McHugh, 1975). To participate in the study, the client had to score at least 17 on the MMSE or in the judgment of the elder abuse investigator demonstrate adequate cognitive capacity to provide self-report. The elder abuse staff was responsible for obtaining clients’ consent. In all, 226 clients consented and completed the OAPAM.
The 22 elder abuse staff members administered client self-report measures of PA via interview in the home to the 226 clients who were substantiated for at least one type of elder mistreatment and spoke English. They also completed a staff observation questionnaire for each of these clients. Recruitment was limited to only substantiated clients to be sure that the population was appropriate for the measures. However, they did not have to be substantiated for PA. This meant that there would likely be a substantial group in the “floor” to be sure there was representation of a full range of the construct and power for a yes/no cut-point.