Symposia
Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders
Persephone Larkin, M.A. (she/her/hers)
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Simon Sheppard (he/him/his)
Research Assistant
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Christiana Bratiotis, PhD, MSW (she/her/hers)
Associate Professor
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Sheila Woody, PhD, RPsych (she/her/hers)
Professor
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Stigma has become a buzzword in mental health, and its relevance to hoarding is recognized despite limited research on the topic. This presentation will describe a study of attitudes toward both people with hoarding and interventions for hoarding-related problems. We conducted an online survey of 66 professional hoarding service providers in comparison with 68 non-professional community members with no hoarding experience. Hoarding service providers were primarily from the fields of allied behavioural health (including mental health), housing, and code enforcement.
Hoarding service providers had more accurate knowledge of hoarding than non-professionals, and knowledge about hoarding was negatively correlated with stigmatizing attitudes. In comparison with non-professionals, hoarding service providers endorsed significantly fewer stigmatizing attitudes about general mental illness. Hoarding service providers ascribed (less) symptom controllability to the person with hoarding and endorsed (more) willingness to have different types of social contact with people who hoard than did non-professionals. On the other hand, hoarding service providers did not differ from non-professionals in their beliefs about hoarding clients’ competence to make treatment or financial decisions or their endorsement of forced intervention approaches such as medication or clean-out. Not surprisingly, general mental illness stigma consistently predicted hoarding-related stigma. Among hoarding service providers, professional confidence in treating hoarding was negatively correlated with hoarding-related stigma. hoarding service providers who function in an enforcement role (e.g., building or fire inspector) were more likely to endorse the appropriateness of forced interventions and less likely to want to be socially close with a person with hoarding behaviour.
Despite being in a professional role, many service providers lack hoarding-specific training and education, which can perpetuate stigma and perhaps increase reliance on coercive interventions. Enhancing professional confidence and competence in working with hoarding, along with addressing stigmatizing attitudes towards those with mental illnesses may be a first step to improve care for people with hoarding behaviour.