Calls on the 3977 telephone line, dedicated to the fight against mistreatment of elderly or disabled adults, jumped 28% in the first half of 2021, compared to the same period of 2020, announced the federation operating this number this Tuesday.

This increase could be explained by a "catching up" after periods of confinement synonymous with difficulties in reporting dysfunctions.

Restrictions perceived as mistreatment

“There was a deficit of calls in 2020 during confinement, in part because our usual callers, that is to say especially the families, were not mobilized: they could not access the inside retirement homes, ”said Pierre Czernichow, president of the federation in charge of this helpline created in 2012 and funded by the public authorities, on Wednesday.

Another possible explanation is that the distress of nursing home residents, due to the restrictions imposed on them during confinement and even after, was not necessarily perceived as mistreatment, analyzes Pierre Czernichow.

Concretely, in the first half of 2021, the 3977 service opened 948 files on possible mistreatment - whether physical or psychological -, an increase of 28% compared to the first half of 2020. In 2020, compared to 2019, the increase had been 3%.

Three quarters of violence at home

In retirement homes or establishments for disabled adults, the dysfunctions reported are most often "negligence, responses deemed insufficient, and most of the time completely involuntary", on the part of exhausted caregivers and not enough numerous, notes Pierre Czernichow. But three quarters of the calls concern mistreatment that occurs in the homes of the adults concerned: it can be the work of professionals working in their homes, or members of their entourage or their family.

Whatever the figures, "the alerts we receive are a drop in the sea, a very small part of reality," insists the person in charge of the crisis line.

However, "not to speak about it, it is the surest way that it is reiterated".

For this specialist in public health, "there is certainly a collective awareness of this problem, but a lot remains to be done", in particular to fight against the preconceived idea according to which this phenomenon "is a matter of intimacy and does not concern the society ".

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  • Abuse

  • Violence

  • Disabled

  • The elderly

  • Society