• To increase your awareness of the link between adverse childhood experiences and health risk factors
• To enhance your understanding of how childhood trauma may manifest in older age
• To acknowledge the importance of adopting a trauma-informed approach to the care of older people
There is increasing recognition that adverse childhood experiences are linked to suboptimal mental and physical health in later life. Despite this, there has been little research into the effects of adverse childhood experiences on older people. This article gives an overview of the long-term mental and physical effects of adverse childhood experiences and discusses how childhood trauma may manifest in older people. The author also discusses how nurses and unpaid family carers may themselves have been exposed to adverse childhood experiences and how this may affect their caring role. It is crucial that nurses adopt a trauma-informed approach to the care of older people to take account of possible adverse childhood experiences and prevent re-traumatisation.
Nursing Older People. doi: 10.7748/nop.2022.e1416
Peer reviewThis article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software
Correspondence Conflict of interestNone declared
Williams B (2022) Understanding the effects of adverse childhood experiences on older people. Nursing Older People. doi: 10.7748/nop.2022.e1416
Published online: 07 December 2022
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