Final answer:
A nurse would not suspect self-neglect in the case of a 74-year old woman living with her son who presents with a history of abuse, as self-neglect involves an elderly person failing to fulfill their own care needs and is not consistent with the evidence of possible involvement by a caregiver.
Step-by-step explanation:
The nurse would not suspect that self-neglect is the cause of the elderly abuse in the case of the 74-year old female presenting to the ED with a history of emotional and physical abuse and living with her 26-year old son. Self-neglect is a category of elder abuse that occurs when an elderly person fails to meet their own basic needs, but this is unlikely the cause given the history of the individual living with a potentially abusive family member. Additionally, according to the research by Dr. Ron Acierno and others, factors that increase the risk of elder abuse include depression in the caregiver, dependency of the caregiver on the elder, and a history of the caregiver being abused themselves. Therefore, the presence of these factors and the patient's frequent ER visits with various bruises point more towards inflicted harm than self-neglect.