Development of a Brief Elder Abuse and Neglect Screening Tool for Emergency Medical Services: Detection of Elder Abuse Through Emergency Care Technicians (DETECT), Texas, 2015 (ICPSR 37245)

Version Date: Aug 30, 2022

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Principal Investigator(s):
M. Brad Cannell, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. School of Public Health

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37245.v2

Version V2 ()

  • V2 [2022-08-30]
  • V1 [2022-04-14] unpublished
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Summary

In collaboration with Texas Adult Protective Services (APS) and one of the largest mobile healthcare providers in North Texas -- MedStarMobile Healthcare (MedStar) -- this study developed and piloted an elder abuse (EA) screening tool: Detection of Elder Abuse Through Emergency Care Technicians (DETECT). The DETECT tool was designed specifically to help medics identify potential EA among community-dwelling older adults during an emergency response. DETECT relies entirely on the medics' systematic observations of the older adults' physical and social environment -- no direct questioning of the older adult or their caregivers is involved. The DETECT tool was developed through an iterative, user-centered design process in which input was gathered from key stakeholders, and revisions to the tool incorporated their feedback. The intent was for that process to result in an EA screening tool that was easy for medics to use in the field and that helped medics capture information about older adults, their environments, and their caregivers that is thought to be associated with the occurrence of EA.

Citation

Cannell, M. Brad. Development of a Brief Elder Abuse and Neglect Screening Tool for Emergency Medical Services: Detection of Elder Abuse Through Emergency Care Technicians (DETECT), Texas, 2015. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2022-08-30. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37245.v2

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Funding

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (2014-MU-CX-0102)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

None

Restrictions

Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reason for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2015

Date of Collection

2015-09-17 -- 2015-10-26
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Study Purpose

The long-term goal of the DETECT project is to refine the tool and fully validate its effectiveness in assisting first responders to link older adults who are potentially living with EA to needed programs and services. However, the goals of this preliminary 5-week pilot study were far more limited. Namely, the research team's goals were to answer the following two questions about the feasibility of using the DETECT screening tool with medics in the field: (1) What procedural barriers, if any, might prevent DETECT from being used as intended by medics in the field?; and, (2) how often, if ever, are the characteristics/situations described in each of the DETECT screening items actually observed and recorded by medics in the field?

Study Design

The researchers pilot tested the DETECT screening tool with medics in the field between September 17th and October 26th, 2015. During the pilot test, MedStar's Electronic Patient Care Reporting system (ePCR) was programmed to automatically prompt all medics to complete an EA screening using the DETECT tool while on an eligible 911 response.

Sample

An eligible 911 response was defined as a call for a community-dwelling patient who was 65 years of age or older, the setting was the patient's residence, and the patient resided in the community (e.g., private home, unlicensed adult foster homes, unlicensed board and care homes, etc.). Other types of residences (e.g., licensed skilled nursing facilities) were excluded because reports of EA in these settings are generally not investigated by APS in Texas (Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, 2018). By definition, older adults who participated in the pilot study had to live in MedStar's service area of an estimated 978,000 residents, which included Fort Worth, Texas, and 14 surrounding communities ("MedStar Service Area/Member Cities," 2018).

Time Method

Cross-sectional

Universe

Community-dwelling residents 65 years of age or older in Fort Worth, Texas and surrounding communities.

Unit(s) of Observation

Individual

Data Source

MedStar legal compliance records

Texas APS investigations records

MedStar ePCR records

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables

The 26 DETECT screening items spanned 8 domains of EA indicators frequently encountered by medics (Cannell et al., 2016). For each item, response options included "Yes", "No", and "Don't know". Items related to the older adult's caregiver featured an expanded range of response options that included "Not Applicable or No Caregiver."

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Original Release Date

2022-04-14

Version History

2022-08-30 Updated PI name in all documentation.

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Notes

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

  • One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.

NACJD logo

This dataset is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the criminal justice archive within ICPSR. NACJD is primarily sponsored by three agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice: the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.