FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION THROUGH THE LENS OF THE BYSTANDER INTERVENTION MODEL

• Published in: Innovation in aging Vol. 1; no. suppl_1; p. 950
• Main Authors: Gilhooly, M.L., Dalley, G., Gilhooly, K.J., Harries, P., Kinnear, D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: US Oxford University Press 01-07-2017
• Subjects: Abstracts
• ISSN: 2399-5300; 2399-5300
• DOI: 10.1093/geroni/igx004.3415

Although developed to explain why people fail to act in emergencies, the bystander intervention model has considerable potential to help us understand decision-making in relation to the detection and prevention of elder financial abuse. There are five stages to our modified ‘professional bystander intervention model’. (1) noticing relevant cues to financial abuse, (2) construing the situation as financial abuse, (3) deciding the situation is a personal responsibility,(4) knowing how to deal with the situation, and (5) deciding to intervene. In the same way that a number of stages must be negotiated in cases of bystander intervention in emergencies, in non-emergencies such as elder financial abuse, the same stages must also be negotiated. Although policies and guidelines might indicate what should be done and who should take responsibility once elder financial abuse is identified, the identification of elder financial abuse itself involves complex judgements which are also part of the decision-making process. This paper will present findings from a two-year UK study on decision-making by health, social care, and banking professionals in detecting and preventing financial elder abuse.