Hidden violence: abuse and grievances in home care

Catastrophic abuse in retirement homes, neglect and even violence against residents, these conditions are the result of investigative investigations and reports on people affected by the media in the public. It is largely unknown that there are such things at home, in home care.

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An aid network is asking the police to make an urgent home visit for suspicion of ill-treatment.

A day nursery tells about the size of a palm on the hip and bad of a person with dementia.

Police reported that a woman in need of care had been extracted from the car by her husband and was punched in the face.

A man calls the police to imprison him.

All of these incidents involve violence in care. And at home.

Disturbing examples of a county

The case studies come from the district of Tuttlingen, north-west of Lake Constance, where the single national project "Adult Protection" is currently devoted to management, as formulated by Wolfgang Hauser. problematic care ".

And for good reason: "In the district nursing home, evidence of dangerous situations has accumulated," said Hauser, who works as a social planner at the district office.

Neighbors, police, ambulatory care services, even mayors and even people in need of care themselves have increasingly stated, "Something is wrong, people are not well cared for.

In the neighborhood, we realize that every older person wants to stay at home as long as possible. But its structures are inadequate, often completely absent.

This is what the project wants to change: the Ministry of Social Affairs finances it for 110 years up to 110,000 euros.

The special dependency ratio of people in need of care in the living environment, often with limited social control, often places affected people in a dilemma, said a spokeswoman for the ministry.

The project should create a "culture of care in the interaction of families, social neighborhoods, volunteers and professionals".

Patients with dementia are often victims of violence

According to the Center for Quality of Care (ZQP), people with dementia are particularly at risk of becoming victims of violence.

Shouting, humiliating, condescending, leaving him sitting too long in the toilet, waiting too long without taking it seriously – violence against people in need of care, whether in an institution or at home, is diverse, difficult to grasp and long before criminal attacks,

That the topic changes a lot of topics, also testifies to the interest aroused by the pflege-gewalt.de portal of the ZQP, which would be mainly used by caregivers. "We have already welcomed more than 50,000 visitors in 2018," says Ralf Suhr, CEO of ZQP.

The ZQP had already published a study on violence in health care facilities in 2017 and in 2018 added a study on domestic violence.

Many caregivers have a negative feeling of feeling depressed (36%) or angry (29%).

Nearly one-third (about 32%) of over 1,000 respondents reported experiencing mental abuse against the person requiring care in the last six months.

Physical violence yielded 12 percent. "Many remain in the dark – no statistics can capture that," said Eugen Brysch, president of the Stiftung Patientenschutz.

In addition, there is the quickly forgotten, according to ZQP figures barely investigated patient aggressors against those they are caring for.

Even Italy cares less about the family

The opinion of the experts of this country is unique. "Even in Italy, France is less well maintained," says Thomas Klie, who teaches at the Freiburg Protestant College and has accompanied the Tuttlinger project. "There is a lot to do – but at the expense of caregivers."

Klie also speaks of a significant number of households facing violence.

According to the evaluations of the Medical Service of Health Insurance (MDK), about 15 to 20% of people with dementia at home are in whom it is fixed, sedated and / or under lock, explains Klie.

According to Hauser, the overload of his parents is often the cause of such actions. They would be abandoned and neither advised nor accompanied.

"We buy the care of the family by looking away, taking into account the situation of people in care, the needs are not sufficiently taken into account," says Klie.

In the neighborhood, Tuttlingen should not be diverted. With working groups, round tables, a working group and case management training courses, the pilot project aims to develop structures with which situations of violence can be identified and changed more quickly.

Klie hopes the project will have a broad base – to examine a previously neglected reality. (DPA / MWO)