Italian healthcare professionals' attitude and barriers to mandatory reporting of elder abuse: An exploratory study.

•Elder abuse is a major public health concern which poses many challenges to prevention and treatment.•It is one of the most neglected types of violence and only a very small number of elder maltreatments are reported.•The role of healthcare professionals in the identification and assessment of risk factors of elder abuse is crucial.•The results of this study may provide further support in order to properly address elder abuse in Italy.