Research team tackles hoarding by young people and older adults

Mississippi State Assistant Professor Mary E. Dozier helps Mississippians reduce clutter, reduce anxiety, and improve their quality of life through subtle and positive intervention methods.

Dozier, a faculty member in the Department of Psychology, began researching hoarding disorder in older adults but has since expanded to the college student demographic. After speaking with a clinical psychologist from New Orleans, Louisiana, Dozier began exploring the consequences of growing up in a home with excessive clutter.

Published this fall, published Dozier's work entitled “Psychosocial Impact of Hoarding Symptoms in College Students and the Potential for Early Intervention” in the Journal of American College Health identifies the importance of early intervention in reducing the likelihood of young people developing hoarding disorder later in life.

“The project we conducted was an online survey of MSU students about the associations between hoarding in their family home and their current functioning, as well as their interest in various possible anti-clutter interventions,” Dozier said. “My team is using some of the results from this project to offer free group clutter treatments for MSU students this spring.”

Dozier's team will use a variety of cognitive-behavioral methods to help college-age students clean up, including some of the motivational interviewing techniques used in her 2021 pilot study aimed at helping older Mississippians. Her findings from the study “Home-based motivational interviews for late-life rural hoarding disorder” were published this summer in Aging and mental health. She is currently conducting a longer version of this project, which she calls Project RECLAIM (Reduce Clutter and Increase Meaning).

Project RECLAIM inspires change from a values-based, patient-centered approach. Instead of focusing on the negative effects of clutter, Dozier's doctors are increasingly provoking “change talk” by emphasizing the positive results that can occur from decluttering. For example, a discussion with participants about how cleaning up clutter can lead to more visits with family members can have a stronger impact than pointing out how that same clutter deters family from visiting.

“Our goal is to keep participants focused on change,” Dozier said. “We avoid using the term 'hoarding disorder' with individuals; we use 'clutter'. Everyone struggles with clutter, and there's nothing wrong with that. This is about helping those who want to see change.”

According to Dozier's pilot study, older participants reduced their clutter by 20% and reported improved mental health and a healthier relationship with their belongings. After working with 40 clients, Dozier found that this focus on treatment with positive effects has made drastic changes in the lives of her participants.

Following the success of her pilot study, Dozier is in high demand to provide training for the RECLAIM intervention. Recently, she has provided invited lectures and training for the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (a national group of professional organizers), the Nebraska Mental Health and Aging Coalition, and locally for the MSU Social Work Field Instructor Program.

“One of the things I'm always surprised about is what helps,” Dozier said. “Simple interventions – such as asking someone to think about their values ​​while sorting items – can lead to life-changing results.”

Dozier's long-term goals include using this positive-based model to create a program that family members can use when needed.

“There's something very powerful about having someone in your home saying it's okay. It's okay to let things go. I'm excited about doing this research because it helps people,” she said. “It's also developing something bigger that's going to help more people.”

Provided by Mississippi State University