Participants needed for a study on hoarding

Dr PhilGood on 09/08/2014 - 12:43

Hi fellow OZBargainers,

My name is Philip and I am graduate psychology student at Deakin University. I am currently looking for people from the general population to participate in a psychological questionnaire related to hoarding. Since this is a bargain hunting community, I thought that at least some of you would have an interest in this topic. Hoarding is characterised by the persistent acquisition of and failure to discard possessions, leading to distress and impairment. In this study we wish to investigate the role of emotion regulation in relationship to general hoarding behaviours.

We are looking for participants aged 18 years and over. You will be asked to complete a series of online questionnaires that measure strategies to deal with emotions, thoughts related to hoarding and specific vulnerability factors. Please note that you DO NOT have to have Hoarding Disorder or hoarding problems in order to participate. Participation is online and anonymous and will require no more than 25 minutes of your time. Your help would be greatly appreciated!

If you are interested or would like more details on the study please use this link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZPFQXSR

Thanks all!

General Discussion

Comments

  • slipperyslippers on 09/08/2014 - 14:23
    +1

    I'd like to submit my husband - the stuff he's collected in his shed is mind blowing !
    and no… it's not a collection by any means!

    • Dr PhilGood on 09/08/2014 - 16:01

      As long as his 'collection' is restricted to the shed I think that is fairly normal behaviour (at least for Ozbargainers?). Ask him to do the survey anyway :P

  • c64 on 09/08/2014 - 16:55
    +1

    saving money does not equate to hoarding!

    • Dr PhilGood on 10/08/2014 - 09:50
      +1

      That is true, and it wasn't my intention to imply that this community is full of people with hoarding problems! However, bargains and freebies may exacerbate the excessive acquisition aspect of hoarding, which in turn results in more clutter if there is also difficulty discarding.

  • mooney on 09/08/2014 - 18:59
    +1

    Only issue I can foresee in getting participants is that people with real hoarding issues can either be in denial about it or ashamed of it. Either way it makes it harder to get volunteers I'd expect.

    I've in-laws that have real issues here and they absolutely refuse to accept they have hoarding problems. Even though in their 3 bed house they can only now access one bedroom. You cannot use logic with them… It's amazing.

    • [Deactivated] on 09/08/2014 - 19:46
      +1

      Agreed. My mother has clear hoarding tendencies and secret stashes of things, but she refuses to admit or agree that she has issues with it. Thankfully it's not a full blown problem (yet) but her mindset with everything is 'don't throw that out! I might need it later'. So she ends up with cupboards full of dozens or hundreds of the exact same item - things you wouldn't even use up in your whole lifetime.

      Drives me nuts because she's always complaining about clutter… yet it's all her stuff and stuff she refuses to part with despite any reasoning lol.

      • Dr PhilGood on 10/08/2014 - 10:01

        This is a very good point, as poor insight is indeed a common theme among those with serious hoarding problems. This is one of the main reasons why HD is still quite poorly understood and why treatment success rates are relatively low. However, we are not specifically targetting only those with hoarding problems, so the self report format should not be so much of an issue.

  • altomic on 09/08/2014 - 19:34

    Are you post grad dip, honours or masters?

  • Dr PhilGood on 10/08/2014 - 10:03

    PGD. Not sure why I didn't apply for honours as this course is going to cost me an arm and a leg!

    • altomic on 10/08/2014 - 13:13

      Yeah. Though $ wise it is much of a muchness. I just finished my coursework for a pgd. Doing thesis next year. Looking forward to that.

      • Dr PhilGood on 10/08/2014 - 17:55

        Congrats! Not sure I'm keen on doing a phD myself as I get overwhelmed just thinking about writing an 80,000 word dissertation. I'll probably just apply for Dpsych and masters courses after this.

        • Dr PhilGood on 11/08/2014 - 10:40

          For some reason I read that initially as you saying you were starting your phD next year, hence my reply. Anyway, good luck with your thesis!

  • watty on 10/08/2014 - 23:41
    +1

    You Deaken Uni people are amazing! I'm reading a textbook written by 2 Deaken Uni professors/lecturers and it has been a huge help. Sorry about being off topic and good luck with your study :)

    • Dr PhilGood on 11/08/2014 - 10:49

      Thanks watty! Glad to hear that I am loosely associated with authors who actually managed to publish a useful textbook :)

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join