Violence reduction is a United Nations (UN) sustainable development goal (SDG) and is key to both public health and criminology. The collaboration between these fields has the potential to create and improve prevention strategies but has been hampered by the usage of different definitions and measurements. This paper explores the definitions and measurements of violence by the World Health Organization, UN, and Council of Europe to arrive at a harmonized framework aligned with the SDGs. Violence and abuse are defined by these organizations as intentional actions that (are likely to) lead to harm, irrespective of physicality or legality. When recording violence and abuse, health- and justice-based administrative systems use different codes which cannot directly be translated without resorting to broad overarching categories. Additionally, the identification of the number of victims, perpetrators, and events is challenging in these systems due to repeat victimization/offending, multiple victims/perpetrators, and multiple engagements with services associated with a single event. Furthermore, additional information on the victims (e.g., ethnicity) and events needs to be registered to evaluate progress toward the SDGs. We propose a framework to record violence that includes individual and event identifiers, forms of violence and abuse (including physical, sexual, and psychological), harm, and individual and event characteristics.

Official estimates of violence prevalence in England exclude older people. There are few studies of elder abuse and these excluded violence from acquaintances and strangers and lack comparability with younger adults. To estimate prevalence of past-year violence victimisation in older people, identify factors associated with violence in older age, quantify the extent to which experience of violence in older people was associated with common mental disorder (CMD). Analysis of a 2014 general population probability sample survey of 2570 adults aged 60+ and 4484 16-59 year olds. Modified version of the Conflict Tactics Scale measured domestic violence and List of Threatening Experiences captured bullying and serious assault. CMD were assessed using the revised Clinical Interview Schedule. Associations were examined using regression models adjusted for childhood victimisation and other adversities. 2.0 % (n = 52,CI:1.4-2.6) of older people experienced violence in the past year, with intimate partner violence the most prevalent form. Older people of non-white ethnicity, those who were socially isolated or lonely, and the formerly married were more likely to experience violence. Violence was associated with CMD in older people (adjusted odds ratio 2.2, CI:1.0-4.8), controlling for impairments, adversities and other factors. Violence, especially from an intimate partner, is evident in later life and strongly associated with poor mental health. Better instruments for the identification of violence and abuse in older people in research and safe enquiry in practice settings are needed, with recognition of and attention to ethnic and other inequalities among older people in exposure.

There is a growing need to support the health and well-being of retired adults. Some evidence suggests that retirement transition can provide an opportunity for public health initiatives (Heaven et al., 2016). However, to increase the effectiveness of the potential interventions, more holistic models that acknowledge the complexity of the retirement process are needed. The aim of the present study was to gain an in-depth understanding of retirement adjustment and to explore the key components of successful retirement adaptation by examining the lived experiences of retired adults. A qualitative research design was used and included four focus groups ( n = 18) and individual interviews ( n = 10) conducted with participants, aged 58 to 82 years, retired for various durations from manual- and non-manual occupations. The data were subjected to thematic analysis. A new retirement adjustment (R-Adj) framework that incorporates multiple layers of contributors to retirement experiences was suggested. The three core components of R-Adj were identity rebuilding, social interaction, and independence, all of which anchor on activity engagement. The identified elements of R-Adj remained relevant for positive retirement experiences at different stages. However, the retirement transition might be the optimal time for interventions because it is when the most noticeable changes in social circles, identity, lifestyles, and the most prominent call for independence occur. It is proposed that the R-Adj components should be considered when designing public health initiatives for the retired population.

The veteran population in the UK has been decreasing, however, there remains a proportion of veterans and their families who continue to experience multiple and complex health, financial, and social needs. The complex problems tend to exacerbate each other and deepen over time if appropriate support is not provided. Identifying the veterans with complex needs is crucial for effective support by military charities and health and social care services. The present research aims to develop a complex needs indicator for the veteran population (CNIV) that will quantify complexity and help to identify the risk of having or developing complex needs. The development of the CNIV will be informed by the guidance for constructing composite indicators. The data on grant support received by veterans’ beneficiaries from the UK Royal Marine and SSFA charities will be used for designing the indicator and evaluating its robustness. The crucial step in constructing the indicator is assigning weights to different needs and risk factors associated with complex cases. Factor analysis (FA) and analytical network process (ANP) will be used as weighting methods for the analysed variables. The development of CNIV has important implications for research and practice, such as the potential to be used as a screening tool for identifying complex cases, improved provision of the targeted support to veterans, assessing the scope of complex problems among veterans within the country and informing policy makers and a more general audience of the complexity of need within the sector.

Violence is recognised as a cause of health harm, but it is not consistently or adequately captured in healthcare data systems. While administrative health records could be valuable sources of information for measuring violence, they remain underutilised in violence-related research. The present research aims to examine the suitability of violence indicators in emergency care, primary care, and linked healthcare datasets. Descriptive analyses were conducted with the 2015/16 Hospital Episode Statistics Accident and Emergency (HES A&E) and the 2021/22 Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS). The potential of the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and the South Wales Violence Surveillance dataset (a police and emergency department (ED) dataset linked by Public Health Wales) were shown using available evidence. Among the discussed datasets, the South Wales Violence Surveillance dataset has the most detail about violent acts and their contexts, while the CPRD includes a more extensive range of socioeconomic factors about patients and extensive linkage with other datasets. Currently, detailed safeguarding information is routinely removed from the ECDS extracts provided to researchers, limiting its utility for violence research. In the HES A&E, only physical violence was consistently recorded. Addressing these issues has the potential to improve the use of health administrative data in research on violence.

Evidence shows that violence in childhood affects health in adulthood, and violence in adulthood is associated with worse health. However, the extent to which violence-related health disparities persist into later life and whether the gap between victims and non-victims narrows, remains stable, or widens over time are unclear. This study aimed to examine the long-term effects of childhood and lifetime violence on health trajectories in older age. The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing is one of the only cohort studies to cover violence across the lifespan alongside health trajectories in later life. Data were collected every 2 years between 2006 and 2019 and experiences of violence and limiting long-standing illness or disability (LLSID) were self-reported. We used logistic multilevel regressions and growth curve modelling to examine associations between parental physical abuse in childhood, lifetime physical or sexual violence, and any violence across the life course, with subsequent change in LLSID and depressive symptoms in later life, adjusted for demographic (age, gender, marital status, and region), socioeconomic (education, occupational class, tenure, and financial hardship), and social (household size and caregiving) attributes. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. Of the 9771 participants who responded to the questionnaire, 6171 answered all three questions about experiences of violence and were included in this cohort. Any experience of violence was consistently associated with worse health in older age, including depression scale score of at least 4 (men: adjusted odds ratio 1·99, 95% CI 1·34-2·94; women: 1·38, 1·02-1·86) and LLSID (men: 1·74, 1·08-2·81; women: 2·15, 1·45-3·17). The patterns were evident in men and women. Physical and mental health disadvantages associated with experiencing violence in childhood and adulthood are sustained throughout later life. There was little evidence that health disparities between victims and non-victims reduce over time. Preventing violence in both childhood and adulthood could promote healthy ageing. UK Prevention Research Partnership.