---

Content

I. Executive summary
1.1. Background
1.2. Research methods
1.3. Main results of the institutional survey
1.4. Lessons of the victim interviews
1.5. Lessons of the expert interviews
1.6. Recommendations

II. IPVoW – a European study on intimate partner violence against older women
2.1. Starting points and conceptual background
2.2. The transnational cooperation Partners and countries involved
2.3. Multi-method approach to intimate partner violence against older women – an overview

III. IPV against older women in context: Societal and culture background factors
3.1. The Demographic situation (the proportion of elderly people within society, their family status, state of health, in addition to life expectancy)
3.2. Objective standard of living (work, pension, income, housing)
3.3. Social welfare services that deal with the elderly
3.4. The judging and experiencing of old age
3.5. Research in relation to old people – what is missing?

IV. Overview of existing national data on the issue
4.1. Legal background
4.2. Ideological background
4.3. The first stage of researches
4.4. Researches conducted in the 2000's

V. Institutional survey
5.1. Methodology of the institutional survey
5.1.1. Survey aims and design
5.1.2. Content and structure of the instruments
5.2. Sampling and recruiting institutions
5.3. Sample characteristics
5.3.1. Institutions
5.3.2. Respondents
5.4. Results
5.4.1. Institutional/professional experience with elderly female IPV victims
5.4.1.1. How many institutions have case experience?
5.4.1.2. How many victims were there?
5.4.1.3. Victims split per age in institutions' practice
5.4.2. About the violence
5.4.2.1. What forms of violence have occurred?
5.4.2.2. What characterized the victim?
5.4.2.3. Who was the perpetrator?
5.4.2.4. Circumstances of committing the act
5.4.3. What did experts do with the cases?
5.4.4. Other violence
5.4.5. Perception of the problem of IPV against older women
5.4.5.1. Are there elderly female IPV victims at all? And if there are, are they different from younger ones?
5.4.5.2. Special situation of elderly female IPV victims
5.4.5.3. Importance of the topic
5.4.5.4. Denying the topic
5.4.5.5. Special tools in care for elderly female victims
5.4.5.6. Latency
5.5. Summary and discussion

VI. Interviews with older victims of IPV
6.1. Research aims and ethical issues
6.2. Methodology
6.2.1. Instrument
6.2.2. Methodology
6.3. Sample characteristics
6.4. Results
6.4.1. Relationship of the parents, violence at childhood
6.4.2. The first relationship with a partner
6.4.3. Life in a violent relationship
6.4.4. Violence at a younger age
6.4.5. Violence above the age of 60
6.4.6. Consequences: physical and mental injuries
6.4.7. Attempts of breaking free
6.4.8. Point of rest (if there is such), end of the story (if there is such)
6.4.9. The reaction of the children and the community
6.4.10. Message for the other women
6.5. Summary

VII. Staff interviews
7.1. Research aims
7.2. Method
7.2.1 Instrumentation
7.2.2. Sample characteristics
7.2.3. Interpretation problems
7.3. Results
7.3.1. Introductory questions
7.3.2. Discussing the cases in details
7.3.3. Administration
7.4. Summary

VIII. Networking

IX. Summary and conclusions
9.1. Main results of the institution survey
9.2. Lessons of the victim interviews
9.3. Lessons of the expert interviews
9.4. Recommendations

Appendix
References

---

Summary

IPV committed against elderly women has been an unexplored area in Hungary so far, thus the results of the project are stop-gap.

Aims and objectives of the research: gathering information on IPV against elderly women as a social phenomenon, becoming familiar with the how much the institutions and experts know about the cases and what their attitudes are, revealing the experiences of the victims, and above all, directing public attention to the phenomenon.

In Hungary research on intimate partner violence began in late 1990s. There are only comparatively few data of this topic, and the researches are usually not built upon one another. The specific problems of elderly women do not really receive great priority in the researches either.

The system of institutions dealing with the victims of IPV is less developed than in the Western countries, and the institutions themselves or the preparedness of the experts cannot be characterized as adequate either.

The social attitude to the topic is rather rejecting than accepting, its importance is not recognized.

Research methods:

- The overview of the Hungarian researches conducted in this topic has resulted in contradictory outcomes. On the one hand, there is little suitable research data, and on the other, a part of this is relatively old. Moreover, resistance to a research direction aiming at female victims and male perpetrators is very strong, similarly to the tendency to reduce the problem’s importance.

- In the first part of the project we distributed a questionnaire developed by the members of the research team to institutions that had presumably met older women IPV victims during their work. The difficulty of the work with this questionnaire derived from the fact that many institutions failed to fill them in instead of our repeated request.

- In the next step we made interviews with experts who could form an opinion on the most important problems of this issue. Apart from this, the ones who had gained experience in cases as well, talked about the specific nature of dealing with elderly female victims.

- Finally we made interviews with older women IPV victims as well.

---