The literature indicates that the management of elder abuse often involves difficult cases with many ethical challenges and complex dynamics involving the older person, the perpetrator, the practitioner and the service provider. Through a qualitative descriptive research design, this study explored the complexity and challenges of the processes involved in managing cases of elder abuse from the perspective of 18 Irish senior case workers. The aim of the study was to explore the experience of managing cases of elder abuse from the perspective of senior case workers (SCWs).
A qualitative descriptive research design was adopted using one-to-one semi-structured interviews with senior case workers with responsibility for managing cases of elder abuse. The approach was aimed at permitting a fuller understanding of their experiences in managing cases of elder abuse in the community. Interviews were semi-structured and conducted according to a prepared topic guide to ensure all areas of interest were addressed in each interview. The interview data were transcribed verbatim and subjected to a four-phase analytic process resulting in a thematic structure which reflected the combined deductive and inductive analytic approac