ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL SERVICES ATTENTION GIVEN TO WOMEN OVER AGE 65 WHO ARE VICTIMS OF GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

A significant number of women over age 65 live unaware of the violence they have suffered from their partners or ex-partners and unattended to in this regard. Little is known about violence against older women and about the prevention and intervention strategies with them. We present the results of an investigation that aims to analyze the care that social services in Spain offer to women over 65 who are victims of gender violence, based on a systematic survey of 90 system professionals selected using a non-probabilistic procedure for convenience. We have covered the psycho- social characterization of these women, their difficulties gaining access to social services, the needs they have, and the identification of specific social programs for their situations, as well as the training of professionals about gender-based violence against older women. The results reveal a situation of invisibility of gender-based violence against women over age 65 in social services in general. We discuss prevention, identification, and intervention in these cases, and we conclude that it is necessary to take into consideration and make decisions in a situation that, for being inconspicuous, should not be disregarded in social services programming.