Helping older adults find meaning and purpose through storytelling.
The purpose of this article is to describe a storytelling project that was designed to help community-dwelling older adults find meaning and purpose in their lives through reminiscing about the past. The storytelling project was successful not only for the older adults who participated but also for the nursing students, who were given an opportunity to learn about interviewing and communicating with older adults. The value of life review and storytelling as a nursing intervention became evident from this project. When time is taken to listen to the valuable stories and life lessons of the older population, nurses create a better understanding of their patients while their patients recall special memories and feel proud of their lives.
Scott
Katie
K
University of North Carolina at Greensboro, School of Nursing, Greensboro, North Carolina 27402-6170, USA.
DeBrew
Jacqueline Kayler
JK
D000368:Aged; D040561:Assisted Living Facilities; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003142:Communication; D003405:Creativity; D005260:Female; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D033262:Narration; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology