New Report Examines the Elder Abuse Computerized Decision Support System

A new report describes research into whether computer-assisted assessments could improve the handling of claims of elder maltreatment while increasing the substantiation rate of elder abuse cases. The Elder Abuse Decision Support System (EADSS) was developed through previous National Institute of Justice-funded grants to facilitate computer-assisted assessment of allegations of abuse, standardize substantiation decision making, provide user-friendly scoring and reporting, and link care planning to case specifics. Researchers field tested the system at six agencies, surveyed caseworkers on system acceptability, and conducted focus groups on participants' experiences with EADSS and the web-based operating system. The author found that this project provides measurement that could be successfully used in elder abuse investigations. To read Elder Abuse Computerized Decision Support System, go to https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/249185.pdf. (The National Institute of Justice made the report available through the National Criminal Justice Reference Service. The report is the result of an NIJ-funded project but was not published by the U.S. Department of Justice.)