dignity, elder abuse, mistreatment, residential setting, older people

Abstract The aim of this study was to describe the lived experiences of employees and clients with elder abuse. The qualitative phenomenological method was used. The data were collected using unstructured interviews and content analysis of documents. As part of interviews the participants were chosen by the snowball sampling method and the entire sample (n = 48) consisted of employees (n = 26) and clients (n = 20) of 4 senior homes in the town of Ostrava, and managers (n = 2) from outside the institutions. As part of content analysis all complaints of elder abuse (n = 11) the Ostrava Municipal Authority received were examined. Two main dimensions of the examined phenomenon were identified - forms of elder abuse and causes of elder abuse. Participants? important statements from narrations or written complaints illustrating these dimensions were connected into meaning groups (categories).