Community Development Project: Hoarding and Squalor Disorder Analysis

This report presents a community development project focused on hoarding and squalor disorders, recently categorized as mental health issues. The project delves into key community development principles like participation, empowerment, social capital, and sustainability. It also examines crucial community issues, including the impact of neoliberalism and the importance of awareness through safety clean initiatives. Furthermore, the report reflects on ideologies and values, particularly the strength-based approach, and discusses the author's role and group processes in the project. The author highlights the importance of creating a database for council use and future research, alongside a literature review to understand existing research and intervention strategies. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of community awareness and ethical decision-making in addressing these complex issues.

Running head: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
The assignment is not up to the mark. I have provided you with a clear template
suggesting theories that can be used in this assignment. You haven’t used any of the
theories given.
Strength based approach is also not clear. Neoliberalism is also not clear. I have given
you my first part marks as well.i think you haven’t checked that one.
I need this assignment by tonight with all the amendments as I have to submit by
tomorrow afternoon.

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Introduction:
The first half of the research project on hoarding and squalor disorders discussed
about the social stigma that is associated with this mental condition along with the risks and
assessment op people suffering from hoarding and squalor. It is related with the Diogenes
syndrome that have over the years have been understood as the senile breakdown or senile
syndrome or social breakdown. It leads to self-neglect and social exclusion from the
community (Huish & Darnell, 2011). It impinges on the health of the family members of the
patient and leads to the lack of motivation for cleaning in the person. These conditions have
enhance the dependency in the community as a result of high number of individuals suffering
from the illness as they need urgent attention. (Rasmussen, Steketee, Frost, Tolin & Brown,
2014)
Where we are now in the Project: The second half of the project work is about developing
a database and literature review on hoarding and squalor disorder which is recently
categorized as mental health disorder. Macmillan & Shaw engaged in a study of population in
squalor and found that they were undergoing the senile breakdown regarding the standards of
hygiene accepted in the community. According to Karl Jaspers, this is known as the social
breakdown of the elderly. The aim of this paper is to discuss about key community
development principles, key community issues in the project, reflection on the ideologies and
values, and role and group process.

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Body:
1. Key community development principles:
 Participation: The term community participation refers to the involvement of a
community in their day-to-day community issues and therefore be an important pat of
the decision-making process (Briskman, 2014). The engagement of the community
with their people leads to the successful intervention of desired goals. Since hoarding
and squalor affects almost 15 million people in the community it si important for the
community to participate in their won change and development.
 Empowerment: The term community empowerment refers to the process of allowing
the communities to enhance their control over their respective lives. It is concerned
with gaining control over the factors and making decisions that have the potential to
shape the lives of the community (Parrot, 2014). For me empowerment is more than
mere involvement. Given, the impact of hoarding and squalor for the community, it is
important for the community to take ownership of their action. In this context, the
community empowerment can be achieved through sessions and creating awareness
about hoarding and squalor so that the community is empowered to make their own
decisions. The community needs to end the stigma associated with hoarding and
squalor (Lee, Lewis, Leighton, Harris, Long & Macfarlane, 2017).
 Social capital:The term social capital refers to the number of people who are
expected to provide the necessary support and the requisite resources to those in the
community who are in dire need of the resources (Payne, 2015). In the context of this
project social capital mean for the community in working towards a cleaner houses
(Snowdown, 2014).
 Sustainability: The concept of sustainability in community refers to the activities in
the environment that can sustain the community and guarantee the citizens on what

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they want and what they could afford to buy. The sustainable activity in context of the
project improving the psychological well-being of the patient and finding it measures
from the treatment of the disease (Briskman, 2016).
 2. Key community issues in this project:
The term neoliberalism refers to the reinterpretration of the principles of liberalism where the
individual is glorified and personal interest of the individual is considered as supreme
(Miley,O'Melia& DuBois, 2016). In the neoliberal climate, there is lesser thrust on
community and public good therefore I feel that there has been a lack of robust
approach from the government in aiding the community to delve into the issue of
hoarding and squalor. The government could have invested on cleanliness drives to
spread awareness that is lacking in the present context given the emphasis on individual
responsibility (Hyslop, 2016).
The appropriate strategy would be to create awareness in the community through
safety clean initiative instead of implementing forced clean initiative. At the same using the
database of Journal of Medical Ethics, pubMed, scopus, proquest and google scholar to
engage in a critical review of literature to present findings that would enable in ameliorating
hoarding and squalor in the community.
3. Reflection on ideologies and Values: Strength based approach as a theory
 Process of learning
Apart from being asocial worker, I am a normal person and aresponsible citizen. The
mental condition of hoarding and squalor have affected my values as a social worker.
It has affected my sense of self-respect as there times when I felt uncomfortable.
During the course of the research, I have used the strength based approach that
underscores on the collaborative process between the social worker or the researcher

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through the requisite support networks and resources. It refers to the quality of
relationship develops between the researcher and people n charge of providing the
support networks. The appropriate strategies in this condition was to devise plan that
would keep the community clean (Turner, 2017). As social worker I became more
responsible by taking initiative of cleanliness.
 Feelings- Throughout the course of the research I was curious to understand about the
perception of the community regarding hoarding and squalor. In case of Indian
community it can be witnessed that the stigma associated with the mental heath
condition is quite intense compared to Australia. In India, the level of cleanliness is
lesser compared to the context of Australia (Assal, 2018).
 Values- According to the Australian Association of Social Work (AASW) code of
Ethics, it is important for the social worker to maintain integrity throughout the
research process (Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), 2018). It helps
in understanding and developing the scope of social work with the involved
communities. My aim was to establish fair and just relationship with the community.
The values of the Indian community in that they stigmatize mental health patients and
cleanliness is associated with the caste dimension (Assal, 2018). On the other hand, in
case of Australia the stigma around this mental health condition is less severe
(Ockenden, De Groef & Marston, 2014). The values of the Australian community in
this regard that houses have becomes less conducive for people with hoarding and
squalor.
 4. Role and Group Process:I have identified that there are two main sections within the project.
1. Database for the councils use and for future research ideas- I have created a database
through the primary and secondary data collection for the councilors to refer about
hoarding and squalor

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2. Literature review- Another aspect is the review of literature about the concerned
mental health condition to understand about the existing research, methodologies,
intervention strategies and appropriate measures
This has led to the clearer identity around the role because the sections are now
distributed between the two.
My role is more about creating a database by looking into peer-reviewed journals,
newspapers and books to develop a rich database for the future researches. For example,
Since the council is looking for more student participation in coming months this
database would be the stepping stone into developing this into a continuing research. I
would use appropriate keywords to search the database.
Conclusion:
The aim of the project was to create awareness regarding the cleanliness of the
environment. The greater there is awareness about the environment regarding its hygiene
and cleanliness there will be emphasis on maintaining the cleanliness of the environment
and keeping the house clean. There were robust discussions on the measures to be
adopted for advocating a safe and clean initiative. This would promote people to be more
cautious about their safety and is concerned with benefitting the larger community.
Through my intervention and appropriation of the clean safety drive, I could enhance my
role as a researcher. The values that I have imbibed in the course of social work training
drawing from AASW were instrumental in guiding to seek ethical decisions.
References and bibliography

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Assal, F. (2018). Diogenes Syndrome. In Neurologic-Psychiatric Syndromes in Focus-Part
I (Vol. 41, pp. 90-97). Karger Publishers.
AASW - Australian Association of Social Workers. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.aasw.asn.au/
Beckett, C., Maynard, A., & Jordan, P. (2017). Values and ethics in social work. Sage.
Briskman, L. (2014). Social work with indigenous communities: A human rights approach.
Briskman, L. (2016). Decolonizing social work in Australia: Prospect or illusion. In
Indigenous Social Work around the World (pp. 111-122). Routledge.
Hepworth, D. H., Rooney, R. H., Rooney, G. D., & Strom-Gottfried, K. (2016).
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neoliberal times. Critical and Radical Social Work, 4(1), 21-37.
Huish, R., & Darnell, S. C. (2011). Solidarity, counter-hegemony, and development:
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Lee, S. M., Lewis, M., Leighton, D., Harris, B., Long, B., & Macfarlane, S. (2017). A
comparison of the neuropsychological profiles of people living in squalor without
hoarding to those living in squalor associated with hoarding. International journal of
geriatric psychiatry, 32(12), 1433-1439.
Miley, K. K., O'Melia, M. W., & DuBois, B. L. (2016). Generalist social work practice: An
empowering approach. Pearson.

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Ockenden, E. M., De Groef, B., & Marston, L. (2014). Animal hoarding in Victoria,
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Parrott, L. (2014). Values and ethics in social work practice. Learning Matters.
Payne, M. (2015). Modern social work theory. Oxford University Press.
Rasmussen, J. L., Steketee, G., Frost, R. O., Tolin, D. F., & Brown, T. A. (2014). Assessing
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journal, 50(5), 591-596.
Turner, F. J. (2017). Social work treatment: Interlocking theoretical approaches. Oxford
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Smith, E. J. (2006). The strength-based counseling model. The counseling
psychologist, 34(1), 13-79.
Snowdon, J. (2014). Severe domestic squalor: Time to sort out the mess. Australian & New
Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 48(7), 682-684.