Risk Factors for Abuse
For residents
- Functional limitations
- Disruptive or aggressive
- Combative
- Stress
- Conflicts
- Cognitive limitations
- Hiring and screening (ex. Consumer Directed Personal Care Assistants – CDPCAs or contractors)
- Institutional compliance – also known as the "code of silence"
- Substance use
- Need for friendship
- Trust and boundary challenges
The “code of silence” means that the resident has learned that it is not okay or safe to say that something is wrong or that someone is hurting them. It could be their own fear of retaliation – that someone will hurt them more if they were reported to be abusing. Some caregivers learn by observing what happens or doesn’t happen when someone else attempts to stop or intervenes when someone has been abused.