Fabrication or induction of illness in older people

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Date
2015-09-24
Authors
Ngambi, Esther
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Community-Academic Research Links, University College Cork
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Abstract
Fabrication or Induction of Illness (FII) in older people (65 and above) is an extraordinary type of abuse in which carers (spouse, family member, companion, professional or nonprofessional worker) exaggerate, invent or induce illness in an older person under their care in older to gain attention or praise for helping them (Bennett, 2007). A group of professionals called Age: Wisdom and Hope (community partner) who deal with the welfare of older people recorded a number of case examples that led to the partnership with Community Academic Research Links (CARL) of University College Cork (UCC) to undertake this qualitative research study in order to develop public and professional awareness. In view of the fact that this dissertation was a collaborative research process, the community partner and UCC through the student researcher worked together from design to some dissemination activities by holding a number of meetings (McNiff, 2013). Eight medical and non-medical participants were selected through purposive sampling technique (Silverman, 2010) and participated in one Irish location (not mentioned to preserve anonymity). The findings in this dissertation suggest that although FII has been well-documented in children, there is a major lack of information on FII in older people. A comprehensive search strategy involving leading databases found no formal studies and only six published cases from around the world, none of which were from the Republic of Ireland. This reveals that FII in older people by carers is uncommon; the phenomenon has been underresearched, leading to its being underreported. This problem is compounded by the absence of any policy guidelines, best practice or legal framework that recognises FII, coupled with the difficulty in diagnosis and limited public and professional awareness. Furthermore, the findings suggest that FII could take place in any setting in which older people receive long-term care, including medical or nonmedical settings. The motivations of perpetrators are complex but include attention-seeking, self-praise, and/or the desire to be seen as a wonderful carer. However, some participants in this dissertation did not rule out financial gain as a motivating factor. In addition, signs and symptoms of FII comprise the carer being overprotective individuals who make persistent complaints to professionals and interfere with treatment. Additionally, there are different viewpoints regarding the mental health status of perpetrators. While some perpetrators’ behaviour can be linked to mental health challenges, others would not have had a history or formal diagnosis of the same. Moreover, perpetrators may not always meet the criteria for mental health diagnosis which may not justify the claim that perpetrators are consistently those with mental health issues. Participants in this research mainly recommend professional and public awareness, while other long-term recommendations pertaining to policy and legislation are discussed, and details of dissemination outlined.
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Keywords
Illness in older people , Induction of illness in older people , Fabrication of illness in older people , Munchausen syndrome , Illness in the elderly , Induce illness
Citation
Ngambi, E. (2015) Fabrication or induction of illness in older people. Cork: Community-Academic Research Links, University College Cork.
Copyright
©2015, Esther Ngambi.