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Compulsive Hoarding: Overview and Implications for Community Health Nurses

Hoarding is a serious public health hazard that poses significant health and safety risks for individuals, families, and communities. Research indicates that compulsive hoarding is a growing social and environmental problem across the United States, affecting as many as 2–5% of the population. Hoarders often live chaotically in their own private clutter until it spreads so far that it evolves into medical emergencies or can only be contained by the law. Visiting clients in their homes provides community health nurses with the unique opportunity to identify cases of hoarding and connect individuals and their families with appropriate resources, potentially preventing catastrophic outcomes. Interventions such as case-finding, outreach, case management, community education, and advocacy may be implemented by the community health nurse to improve the health of this very vulnerable population. The aim of this article is to inform community health nurses of the complexity of this emerging phenomenon, its symptoms, treatments, and impacts on individuals, their families, and their communities.