Violence against rural older women: promoting community awareness and action

Aim: To identify opportunities and challenges in promoting community support for rural older women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV).

Methods: Using community-based participatory research principles, we engaged in an academic-community partnership to analyse the research literature, estimate IPV incidence and prevalence, ascertain professional and older IPV victim perspectives through focus groups and interviews, and develop a collaborative community response plan. This study took place from 2008 to 2010 in the USA.

Results: IPV in late life is underreported by victims and often unrecognised by the academic and service community. Professionals, while agreeable to collaborating to support older IPV victims, sought coordination and leadership from domestic violence agencies. Older victims stressed the need for improved professional sensitivity to their unique needs and more service options.

Conclusions: The insights generated during this project produced a framework on which rural communities can build to address the hidden and growing problem of late life IPV.