Activities of Daily Living Scale in Hoarding Disorder

Research on hoarding over the last two decades has shown that hoarding disorder appears to be a distinct disorder that burdens the individual, the community and the families of people who hoard. Although hoarding clearly interferes with the daily functioning, especially in the context of extensive clutter, no validated measures of this interference have been developed. The present research examined the psychometric properties of the Activities of Daily Living in Hoarding scale (ADL-H) in two large samples of individuals with significant hoarding problems, one identified through the internet (n=363) and a second through clinical diagnostic interviews (n=202). The ADL-H scale test-retest (1-12 weeks), interrater and internal reliabilities ranged from 0.79 to 0.96. Convergent and discriminant validity were established through analyses of correlational data collected for measures of hoarding severity and non-hoarding psychopathology (obsessive compulsive disorder [OCD], mood state, attention deficit, and perfectionism/uncertainty), as well as through comparisons of scores among individuals with hoarding, hoarding plus OCD, OCD without hoarding, and community controls. The ADL-H scale appears to have strong psychometric properties and to be useful in clinical and research settings. Suggestions are made for expansion of the scale, and study limitations are noted.