Munich forum on long-term care examines digital violence against people in care

Digital violence in long-term care was the focus of this year's 16th Forum Langzeitpflege (Long-Term Care Forum) in Munich. For the first time, the expert forum was held in cooperation with the Munich care home supervisory authority, the Heimaufsicht, which is part of the city's Kreisverwaltungsreferat (district administration department).

The centrepiece of the event was a talk entitled "Invisible and yet real – digital violence in long-term care – from raising awareness to prevention". It set out that digital violence is increasing significantly, but that too little research on the subject exists.

Dorothee Schiwy, head of the city's Sozialreferat (social services department), said: "Digital violence seems new to us today. This is deceptive, because digital violence is limited neither in time nor in space. The term covers various kinds of insulting, belittling, harassing, discriminating against, socially isolating and coercing other people. We still know too little about this, and that is why I see the need for appropriate research so that we can better counter this phenomenon preventively. The Sozialreferat funds training measures and supervision for professional carers in this area."

Dr Hanna Sammüller, head of the Kreisverwaltungsreferat, said: "I am pleased that the Sozialreferat and the Heimaufsicht are tackling the issue of digital violence in care together. Through our cooperation in the Forum Langzeitpflege, we are combining practical experience with the current state of expert knowledge. In this way we are helping to recognise digital violence better and to find ways of preventing it."

A guide to violence prevention, drawn up in 2020 by the Munich Care Conference (Münchner Pflegekonferenz), is available to download free of charge at https://stadt.muenchen.de/infos/pflegekonferenz.html. Further information about the Forum Langzeitpflege is available at https://stadt.muenchen.de/infos/forum-langzeitpflege.html.