Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T04:27:20.476Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Older adult hoarders’ experiences of being helped by volunteers and volunteers’ experiences of helping

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2019

Kirsty Ryninks ,
Vuokko Wallace  and
James D. Gregory Open the ORCID record for James D. Gregory [Opens in a new window]
Kirsty Ryninks
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Vuokko Wallace
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
James D. Gregory*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background:

There is limited research into the experiences of receiving and providing help in the context of hoarding disorder.

Aims:

The present study aimed to explore the experiences of older people with hoarding difficulties receiving help and volunteers providing support to people with hoarding problems.

Method:

Qualitative methods were adopted to investigate the lived experience of participants. A total of seven volunteer helpers and four people with hoarding disorder were recruited and interviewed using a semi-structured interview, designed to explore experiences of providing and receiving help. Qualitative analysis of the interview data was performed using interpretive phenomenological analysis.

Results:

Four superordinate themes were identified: relationship between client and volunteer; ‘live life again’; challenges; and supporting volunteers. The relationship was crucial in providing a trusting foundation from which clients felt able to move forward. Volunteers provided a space for clients to talk and appropriate self-disclosure helped to build a relationship. The informal and ‘non-professional’ status of volunteers enabled clients to take the lead and feel more in control of the therapeutic process. Volunteer flexibility and lack of time constraints contributed to clients ‘making space’ for themselves, both in their home and their lives. The support from volunteers enabled clients to ‘live life again’ and created a domino effect, bringing about improvements in other areas of their lives.

Conclusions:

The findings are discussed in relation to the training of health professionals to work with people with hoarding difficulties and the implications of the findings for treatment approaches and service provision.

Keywords

hoardingolder adultsqualitative methodsvolunteers
Type
Main
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 47 , Issue 6 , November 2019 , pp. 697 - 708
Copyright
© British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5 (5th edn). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.Google Scholar
Ayers, C. R., Bratiotis, C., Saxena, S. and Wetherell, J. L. (2012). Therapist and patient perspectives on cognitive-behavioral therapy for older adults with hoarding disorder: a collective case study. Aging and Mental Health, 16, 915–921.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ayers, C. R. and Dozier, M. E. (2015). Predictors of hoarding severity in older adults with hoarding disorder. International Psychogeriatrics, 27, 1147–1156.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ayers, C. R., Saxena, S., Golshan, S. and Wetherell, J. L. (2010). Age at onset and clinical features of late life compulsive hoarding. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 25, 142–149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ayers, C. R., Wetherell, J. L., Golshan, S. and Saxena, S. (2011). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for geriatric compulsive hoarding. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49, 689–694.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coles, M. E., Frost, R. O., Heimberg, R. G. and Steketee, G. (2003). Hoarding behaviors in a large college sample. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 179–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dozier, M. E., Wetherell, J. L., Twamley, E. W., Schiehser, D. M. and Ayers, C. R. (2016). The relationship between age and neurocognitive and daily functioning in adults with hoarding disorder. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 31, 1329–1336.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eckfield, M. B. and Wallhagen, M. I. (2013). The synergistic effect of growing older with hoarding behaviors. Clinical Nursing Research, 22, 475–491.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frost, R., Steketee, G. and Kyrios, M. (2001). Assessing the severity of compulsive hoarding: the Saving Inventory-Revised. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Frost, R. O. and Gross, R. C. (1993). The hoarding of possessions. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 31, 367–381.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frost, R. O., Steketee, G., Tolin, D. F. and Renaud, S. (2008). Development and validation of the clutter image rating. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 30, 193–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frost, R. O., Steketee, G. and Williams, L. (2000). Hoarding: a community health problem. Health and Social Care in the Community, 8, 229–234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frost, R. O., Tolin, D. F. and Maltby, N. (2010). Insight-related challenges in the treatment of hoarding. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 17, 404–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grisham, J. R., Frost, R. O., Steketee, G., Kim, H.-J. and Hood, S. (2006). Age of onset of compulsive hoarding. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 20, 675–686.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holden, K., Kellett, S., Davies, J. and Scott, S. (2016). The experience of working with people that hoard: a Q-sort exploration. Journal of Mental Health, 1–7.Google ScholarPubMed
Kellett, S. (2007). Compulsive hoarding: a site-security model and associated psychological treatment strategies. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 14, 413–427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, H.-J., Steketee, G. and Frost, R. O. (2001). Hoarding by elderly people. Health and Social Work, 26, 176–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mataix-Cols, D., Frost, R. O., Pertusa, A., Clark, L. A., Saxena, S., Leckman, J. F., et al. (2010). Hoarding disorder: a new diagnosis for DSM-V? Depression and Anxiety, 27, 556–572.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pertusa, A., Frost, R. O., Fullana, M. A., Samuels, J., Steketee, G., Tolin, D., et al. (2010). Refining the diagnostic boundaries of compulsive hoarding: a critical review. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 371–386.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pope, C. and Mays, N. (1995). Qualitative research: reaching the parts other methods cannot reach: an introduction to qualitative methods in health and health services research. British Medical Journal, 311, 42–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raines, A. M., Oglesby, M. E., Unruh, A. S., Capron, D. W. and Schmidt, N. B. (2014). Perceived control: a general psychological vulnerability factor for hoarding. Personality and Individual Differences, 56, 175–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, J. and Osborn, M. (2008). Interpretative phenomenological analysis. In Smith, J. A. (ed), Qualitative Psychology: A Practical Guide to Research Methods (pp. 51–80). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Smith, J. A. (1996). Beyond the divide between cognition and discourse: using interpretative phenomenological analysis in health psychology. Psychology and Health, 11, 261–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stekete, G. and Frost, R. (2007). Compulsive Hoarding and Acquiring. Therapist Guide. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Taft, A. J., Small, R., Hegarty, K. L., Watson, L. F., Gold, L. and Lumley, J. A. (2011). Mothers’ AdvocateS In the Community (MOSAIC)– non-professional mentor support to reduce intimate partner violence and depression in mothers: a cluster randomised trial in primary care. BMC Public Health, 11, 178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tolin, D. F., Frost, R. O. and Steketee, G. (2012). Working with hoarding vs. non-hoarding clients: a survey of professionals’ attitudes and experiences. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 1, 48–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, K., Steketee, G. and Nauth, L. (2010). Treating elders with compulsive hoarding: a pilot program. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 17, 449–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhm, S. Y., Tsoh, J. Y., Mackin, R. S., Gause, M., Chan, J., Franklin, J., et al. (2016). Comparison of a peer facilitated support group to cognitive behavior therapy: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial for hoarding disorder. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 50, 98–105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yardley, L. (2000). Dilemmas in qualitative health research. Psychology and Health, 15, 215–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.