Senior to Senior Anti-Bullying Toolkit
A Sheridan research team led by professor and principal investigator Dr. Kirsten Madsen (Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences) and the Centre for Elder Research, working in collaboration with Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario, have launched Solutions: Everybody’s Business - the Senior to Senior Anti-Bullying Toolkit.
This toolkit is the result of an intensive three-year research project, Seniors Bullying Project, funded through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to better understand bullying between older adults age 55+ in Ontario and support the development of best practices and strategies for this group. Feedback collected from a Seniors Bullying in Ontario Survey, along with stakeholder input from interactive workshops held last Spring, and existing best practices, have helped develop this resource package of best practices for older adults, frontline staff, and agencies to use in preventing and addressing bullying behaviours between older adults.
Quick figures
Results from the Seniors Bullying in Ontario Survey show that bullying between older adults is a serious issue:
- 57% participants reported being bullied
- 56% reported to have engaged in bullying behaviours
- 55% reported witnessing bullying within the last 4 months
- 70% of respondents reporting that being bullied was upsetting or extremely upsetting.
"Anecdotally, we knew that bullying between older adults was a serious issue, and that people working with older adults were desperately asking for strategies to tackle bullying, but now we have relevant data on what is happening in Ontario, and helpful research-informed strategies to address it,” says Dr. Madsen.
“I’m proud of those that I’ve worked with on this project - the entire research team at Sheridan, which includes our research manager for this project, Liza Franses, student researchers Katrina Behenke and Emily Ayenew, the Centre for Elder Research, Pat Spadafora, and our partners at Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario. Finally, a huge thank you to those who responded to the surveys and attended the interactive workshops that greatly informed this toolkit,” adds Dr. Madsen.
The Toolkit is now available for download on SOURCE – Sheridan’s Scholarly Output Research Creative Excellence website.
Visit the Centre for Elder Research’s website for more information on the Seniors Bullying Project.