Seminars in Ageing

Zoom event.

Regular Tuesday seminars brought to you by: National Ageing Research Institute (NARI), Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), and the Academic Unit for the Psychiatry of Old Age (AUPOA), University of Melbourne.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

Presenters: A/Prof Bianca Brijnath, Dr Josefine Antoniades, Peter Feldman, and Dr Kate O’Halloran

Abstract: To mark, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on the 15th of June, NARI is hosting a webinar to showcase some our research and resources specifically focused on elder abuse. We will discuss:

• Seven years of data from an elder abuse helpline in Victoria (presented by Peter Feldman).
• The co-design and pilot of the Australian Elder Abuse Screening Instrument (AuSI) (presented by A/Prof Bianca Brijnath),
• Developing films to highlight best-practice responses for elder abuse in the context of dementia (presented by Dr Jo Antoniades), and
• The primary prevention of family violence among older people living in Victoria (presented by Dr Kate O’Halloran).

The talk will include a discussion of the co-design methods employed to develop materials, some of the challenges faced when working with highly sensitive subject matter and strategies employed to overcome these.

Speaker biography: Associate Professor Bianca Brijnath is the Divisional Director of Social Gerontology at the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI). Her disciplinary training is in primary healthcare, public health and medical anthropology and her research expertise is in mental health and care in primary care and community-based settings. Within these disciplinary and contextual boundaries, she has undertaken several studies exploring mental health and culture, and mental health and the life-course. She has authored over 90 publications, including a sole-authored book with Berghahn Books titled “Unforgotten: Love and the culture of dementia care in India” and is the lead investigator for the Moving Pictures study in Australia. In recognition of her research, she was awarded the Victorian Young Tall Poppy Award in 2018.

Dr Josefine Antoniades is a Research Fellow at NARI in the Division of Social Gerontology. She was awarded her PhD in 2017 from the Department of General Practice at Monash University and disciplinary expertise is at the nexus of psychology, public health and primary care. Framed by these disciplinary boundaries, her research interests include dementia, mental health and health literacy in culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Peter Feldman is a Research Fellow in Social Gerontology at the National Ageing Research Institute. His disciplinary training is in social anthropology, program evaluation and public health. He has worked extensively in evaluation of small, medium and large-scale programs in health, education and community services over the past 15 years in academic, government, commercial and not-for-profit environments. From 2007 to 2020 he taught evaluation and research methods in the Master of Public Health program at the Melbourne School of Population & Global Health, The University of Melbourne.

Dr Kate O’Halloran is a Research Fellow (Mental Health) in Social Gerontology. She leads the elder abuse portfolio at NARI, and is currently project managing two projects: one on the primary prevention of intergenerational elder abuse, and another on elder abuse in the context of disaster (including COVID-19). She is also a member of the Senior Rights Victoria elder abuse roundtable, and the Compass content committee. She has a PhD in Gender and Cultural Studies and has worked extensively in the family violence and media sectors prior to returning to academia. She is also proud of the time she spent time caring for her grandma with Lewy body dementia.

Register here to attend webinar