Introducing: AAR's Local Abuse Stories Database

In 2002, a conversation took place on the national elder abuse listserve about the nonexistence -- but potential usefulness -- of a database of local news stories on elder abuse. Several people discussed how they would use such a database, but no one stepped forward to sponsor it.

When the Internet search engine Google! later launched a service that specifically searched more than 4500 newspapers (www.news.google.com), Adult Abuse Review staff decided it had just become feasible for us to step in to fill the need (expanding it, of course, to cover vulnerable adults as well). We are delighted to announce the results are now available to all, at www.WordBridges.net/elderabuse/media/.

Ideally, this database would allow instantaneous searching and downloading of each and every article. That is not possible; copyright laws make such a database either illegal or extremely expensive. The next best choice -- links to specific articles -- is problematic because many newspapers only maintain a web-based archive of articles for a few months or even a few days, which would result in the database containing mostly "dead" links. Therefore, we have linked only to the home page of the newspaper from which any article came. From that home page you should be able to search the online archive (if they maintain one) and/or get information on how to reach the newspaper's editorial office to obtain a copy of the article(s) you want. You can also obtain copies of local newspapers' articles from your local library.

We also cannot, at this point, manifest our dream of giving you multiple ways to search and display the results of the database. That is coming. In the meantime, users can search the database by state. The results are then displayed alphabetically by locale and, within locale, with the newest article on top.

At this point, the database contains more than 200 articles published beginning January 1, 2003 (plus one stellar December 2002 article on the rarely-covered topic of self-neglect), from 40 states. It will be updated on the website at least weekly. Each article is assigned to one or more categories in preparation for our future, more sophisticated, searching function, and to facilitate the user's selection process. Many of the article entries also contain an AAR-prepared short summary of the article's key points. The categories we have used are:

• Elder abuse: Article addresses one or more cases of elder abuse, neglect, exploitation, or abandonment of an elder (however those terms are defined by state law and/or the journalist) living in any setting.
• Vulnerable adult abuse: Article addresses one or more cases of abuse of a vulnerable adult under the age of 60 living in any setting. (Note that in states where someone is defined as "elder" at age 65, an article about the rape of a 63-year-old developmentally delayed person might therefore be categorized under elder abuse.)
• Self-neglect: Although self-neglect cases make up the majority of the adult protective services caseload in states that investigate this type of abuse, articles about self-neglect have proven to be surprisingly rare. We therefore created a separate category to facilitate finding these articles in the database.
• Nursing homes: Because a particular interest of many people is abuse and neglect in nursing home settings, articles that directly or indirectly address abuse there are so marked.
• Institutions (not nursing homes): Many vulnerable adults and elders reside in facilities such as foster homes, residential centers, and other staffed institutional settings that are not nursing homes. Because abuse in such settings is often handled differently than abuse occurring in a private home or a nursing home, such articles are separately categorized.
• Prosecution: This category is marked whenever a case had gone -- or was in the process of going -- through the courts. Both civil and criminal cases are included.
• Services: Articles that are devoted to some service or program designed to prevent or address vulnerable adult and/or elder abuse (or that incidentally contain significant descriptions of how such services work) receive this categorization.
• Legislation: Not all articles about pending elder abuse legislation are included in the database. Those that report on a just-enacted law and/or that contain a description of one or more specific elder or vulnerable adult abuse cases are.

Entries also include, where available, the article's author and his or her email address.

To help you make the most of this database, we've added to the list of ideas generated in the 2002 national elder abuse listserve discussion and enumerated them all in the accompanying article, "Creative Database Use." Please let us know if you have other ideas or suggestions for how we can improve the usefulness of this service.