MDT Guide and Toolkit

Developing an Elder Abuse Case Review Multidisciplinary Team in Your Community

Second Edition (2025)

The goal of this guide is to help facilitate the development and growth of elder abuse case review multidisciplinary teams (MDTs). In this guide, you will find information about MDT structures and functions, along with common issues with which a team will need to grapple in developing a case review MDT. There is no single way to create or maintain an MDT. Therefore, this guide offers a variety of ideas, sample materials, resources and tools intended to guide the development and sustainability of an elder abuse MDT.

Any community can start an MDT. The form and function of your MDT will depend on the community in which it is developed. And, although you may face obstacles in your community, this guide can help you anticipate and plan for those challenges and apply the knowledge and experiences of other MDTs to the development of your team.

Until recently, the elder abuse MDT approach has received little empirical evaluation. There is now a growing body of elder abuse MDT research and scholarship.  However, more definitive guidance on how to create and maintain high-functioning MDTs exists in other disciplines. Therefore, this guide draws heavily upon MDTs in those other disciplines (e.g., child abuse, education, business, and medicine).

This is a living document designed to be updated with new information, research, and Toolkit items as they become available. When new material is added, we intend to notify our colleagues of changes, as best we can, through email blasts. Check back to our webpage often to view and download the latest materials. You may also sign up to be on our MDT TAC distribution list, by emailing Talitha Guinn-Shaver, MDT Technical Advisor, at talitha.j.guinn-shaver@usdoj.gov.