Fighting for Dignity

Extract

Video: Fighting for Dignity (20:40 min)

Directors: Eilon Caspi and Judy Berry

Videographers: Joe Pollock and Julius Keya

Released: 2019

Available:https://www.terranova.org

Fighting for Dignity, directed by Eilon Caspi and Judy Berry, is a provocative, and, at times, shocking video about injurious and fatal resident-to-resident incidents in long-term care. Viewer discretion is advised at the outset due to some scenes containing graphic images of victim injuries and acts of violence resulting in serious physical injury. Though it has relevance for a wide range of gerontology professionals, the film was designed specifically to “raise policy makers’ awareness of this phenomenon and urge them to develop a national data-driven strategy to adequately track it and fund sorely needed large-scale studies to improve understanding of its risks and protective factors to inform prevention” (Caspi, 2019).

The rationale for this targeting is briefly shared in the opening segment (of the four) that structure the film. This opening includes several disturbing facts. We learn that resident-to-resident violence is both underrecognized and understudied. We learn that this type of aggression is prevalent and is also more common than the more widely recognized physical abuse of residents committed by staff. Direct, serious outcomes of resident-to-resident violence include psychological trauma, physical injuries, and resident death. Indirect psychological outcomes extend to the families of victims and, likely, to the families of perpetrators as well. In addition, we are informed that many of the violent incidents involving nursing home residents are never reported. Video directors Caspi and Berry believe that there is little crossover of knowledge gained from existing academic research on resident violence to the public policy domain. The film cites experts who claim that “few official guidelines, policies, training materials, and prevention or intercession strategies for resident-to-resident aggression exist.” A correlated result is that “nursing home staff simply have no framework to address the problems.”