Caregiver burden, family accommodation, health, and well-being in relatives of individuals with hoarding disorder
- Författare
- Drury H, Ajmi S, Fernández de la Cruz L, Nordsletten AE, Mataix-Cols D
- Titel
- Caregiver burden, family accommodation, health, and well-being in relatives of individuals with hoarding disorder
- Utgivningsår
- 2014
- Tidskrift
- J Affect Disord
- Volym
- 159
- Sidor
- 7-14
- Sammanfattning
BACKGROUND: Hoarding Disorder (HD), a new diagnostic entity in DSM-5, is
associated with substantial functional impairment and family frustration but data
from well-characterized samples is lacking.
METHOD: Participants were 37 individuals meeting DSM-5 criteria for HD, 55
relatives of individuals meeting criteria for HD, and comparison groups of 51
self-identified collectors and 25 relatives of collectors. All participants
completed a clinician-administered diagnostic interview for HD and an online
battery of standardized measures of health, well-being, and impairment.
RESULTS: Substantial functional impairment was found for both HD individuals and
their relatives. HD relatives reported significantly greater carer burden and
accommodation of hoarding behaviors than relatives of collectors. Perceived level
of squalor, co-habiting with, and increasing age of the HD individual were
significant predictors of carer burden and functional impairment in the
relatives.
LIMITATIONS: The use of self-identified HD individuals may have produced a bias
towards participants with relatively good insight. Subjective biases in
self-reported symptoms cannot be ruled out, although the use of informant-report
data provided some independent validation.
CONCLUSIONS: HD is associated with substantial functional impairment for both
sufferers and their relatives. The level of carer burden experienced by HD
relatives was comparable to or greater than that reported in the literature by
relatives of individuals with dementia. The findings indicate that relatives of
individuals with HD may benefit from increased support and suggest that it may be
beneficial to involve family members in the treatment of HD.