Storytelling may comfort old
The key to improving older Australians’ wellbeing could be as easy as reading them both old and new children’s stories. A University of Canberra Lu Rees Archives project, which uses reading to connect with ACT aged care communities, was set to be adapted by other organisations, as announced in September.
The key to improving older Australians’ wellbeing could be as easy as reading them both old and new children’s stories.
A University of Canberra Lu Rees Archives project, which uses reading to connect with ACT aged care communities, was set to be adapted by other organisations, as announced in September.
The Lu Rees Archives of Australian children’s literature at the University coordinated the project last year, which involved reading stories and poems to the Kangara Waters and Calvary Retirement Communities.
Lu Rees Archives director, Belle Alderman, says the project is designed as a way of using storytelling to improve the participants’ “social wellbeing, mental health and social interaction through children’s books.”
“Everyone has their favourite children’s book or story and research has shown that reading children’s books in this sort of setting to the elderly is one way of helping them interact with each other and build connections with their peers to increase their wellbeing,” Dr Alderman says.
Stories read to the groups included A.A .Milne’s Winnie the Pooh and Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, along with stories from the NSW School Magazine from the early 1900s up to the 1960s. They also screened some popular children’s movies adapted from books.
Dr Alderman says the ‘Read and Reminisce’ sessions, conducted by Associate Professor Campbell, resonated with some participants.
“It did stir up memories for the audience which was quite nice, they were saying things like, ‘I remember that one’ and reflecting back on the time. Some of them were even singing songs that were brought back to them from the period that the particular stories were from,” she says.
The project received a grant of $10,900 last year under the ACT Seniors Grants and Sponsorship Program from the ACT Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services.
For more on the project, visit the Lu Rees website.
