Bupa has joined forces with charity The Reader Organisation to encourage its care home residents to ‘get into reading’ with special reading aloud groups.

The ‘Get into Reading’ groups will be piloted in eight Bupa care homes for six months from April 2011. Get into Reading aims to bring the benefits of reading aloud and of social interaction to people in health and care environments, such as residential homes or homes offering nursing care.

Each group will enjoy shared reading led by a project worker from The Reader Organisation for an hour each week. Members will discuss what’s being read as they go along, and relatives, staff and members of the local community will be welcome to join in as well. Studies show that literature can have a healing or therapeutic effect on readers, helping them to identify with characters and situations in books or to be ‘taken out of themselves’ by the story.

The Reader Organisation’s experience has shown that short stories and poetry have proved most beneficial for people with dementia. The project will ensure that Bupa care home staff members will be trained to deliver read-aloud groups themselves. Following assessment of the pilot, Bupa plans to offer groups to its 305 homes nationally as part of its industry-leading Activities programme.

Siobhan Drane, Bupa Care Services community manager said: “We are really pleased to be working with The Reader Organisation to deliver ‘Get into Reading’. We hope that these reading aloud groups will reignite a passion for literature in our residents, spark a new interest or offer an opportunity for reminiscence. We believe our residents will benefit from the positive effect literature can have on wellbeing.”

Via EPR Network
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