Supporting recovery from hoarding and squalor: insights from a community case study.
People with hoarding behaviours acquire a large number of possessions that are often of limited or no monetary value and which they are unable or unwilling to discard. Such behaviours can substantially impair a person's ability to attend to their normal daily activities, cause substantial distress and lead to squalid living conditions. Living in squalor can compromise a person's health and safety, be a public health issue and present substantial challenges to family, carers, social service agencies and clinical mental health services. Hoarding and squalor behaviours are more common among people with co-morbid organic and mental illness, such as developmental delay, schizophrenia, alcohol dependence and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder. This paper provides a narrative that explores the role of one Australian mental health nurse practitioner in the recovery of a person with hoarding behaviours.
School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|Sydney Nursing School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
T
T
Raeburn
Disciplines of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
C
C
Hungerford
Sydney Local Health District Mental Health Service, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
P
P
Escott
School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
M
M
Cleary
D000328:Adult; D000067836:Hoarding Disorder / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000379:methods*
hoarding; mental health nursing; psychiatric diagnosis; recovery; squalor