Elder Financial Exploitation Victimization: Indentifying Unique Risk Profiles and Factors to Enhance Detection, Prevention and Intervention

This study seeks to build on and advance previous studies which have identified multiple forms of elder financial exploitation associated with specific risk factors. The objectives are to identify victim, perpetrator and community-level and sociocultural risk factors for elder financial exploitation in order to inform the development of targeted public service announcements as well as to enhance law enforcement prevention efforts. This study will consist of a secondary data analysis of the Texas Adult Protective Services (APS) statewide database. These data will include in-depth investigation reports for 878 substantiated cases of elder financial exploitation in adults 65 years of age and older between 2004 and 2012. Data from the recently validated Texas APS Client Assessment and Risk Evaluation (CARE) tool will provide systematic and reliable data regarding the victim's social, mental health, physical, environmental and financial conditions. Perpetrator, community-level and sociocultural factors will also be assessed for relevance to victimization risks. Bayesian model averaging, which provides the most accurate set of risk factors when using predictive models, will be used to determine the best set of risk factors. Individual level risk factors for victims and perpetrators will be drawn from the CARE tool and APS archived data. Community level risk factors for elder financial exploitation, such as crime rates, poverty levels, racial heterogeneity, vacant homes and others will be identified using Geographic Information Systems. Latent profile analysis, a method commonly used in social sciences, including criminal justice, will be used to identify distinct types of elder financial exploitation based on unique combinations and patterns of the ascertained risk factors.ca/ncf