Sociology Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2021
Abstract
Internet-based victimization of senior citizens is an important potential threat of growing social, economic, and public policy interest. Given this, we sought to examine whether the existing research base could be used to formulate sound public policy in this area. To do so, we conducted a rapid evidence synthesis and assessment of the research literature from 2010-2020 surrounding three central organizing themes: cyber-related harms, responses and strategies, and prevention programs and solutions. Results reveal that there is an insufficient research base, lack of diverse research topics, and shortage of research beyond that of which is exploratory in nature. However, our findings did show promising insights on areas for future research development, such as support for seniors and their caregivers. We conclude with recommendations for future research that can begin to address the vulnerabilities senior citizens face with online victimization and potential policy implications for how to effectively combat this issue and these acts.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Notes
Acknowledgements
This project was created as part of the SERENE-RISC knowledge creation projection and funded by a grant from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.