Xanthe Golenko, Anna Fowke, Georgina Johnstone, Judy Lowthian
Bolton Clarke
Stories are central to human connection, communication, and cognition. They are integral to our culture and identity and enable us to learn, celebrate, heal, and remember.
Storytelling is a powerful way of giving voice to people who may be unheard or invisible. Its transformative nature helps people make sense of experiences in their lives and empowers them to reflect, respond and react. It links us together with others and with things that are important to us.
Life story work is an intervention that has been conducted in residential care homes to support personhood and promote person-centred care. It is recognised for providing residents with an opportunity to share and reflect on their life experiences, which can validate their sense of self and value as an individual. It also provides the opportunity for care home staff to get to know residents on a deeper level and see their individuality and uniqueness, which can enhance the quality of interactions and relationships. Building strong relationships can help create a sense of belonging and connectedness, which can reduce feelings of loneliness and social isolation.
While the benefits of life story work in aged care are well recognised, it is often underutilised due to barriers including time constraints on staff, and potential risks and concerns about evoking painful memories. In response, Bolton Clarke has developed a storytelling program for residential aged care and is trialling an innovative approach to implementation that addresses resource constraints and maximises benefits for all.
The Bolton Clarke Storytelling Program explores and celebrates the stories and life learnings of residents through group work (story circles) and individual story projects (life story books, posters and digital stories). It is designed to facilitate choice and inclusiveness while catering to the diverse needs and preferences of individual residents. The program is underpinned by a trauma-informed practice framework that draws on SAMHSA’s six trauma-informed principles: Safety and security; Trustworthiness and transparency; Peer support; Collaboration and mutuality; Empowerment, voice and choice; Cultural, historical and gender issues. [1]
Implementation of the Storytelling Program is guided by Meyer’s Implementation Framework for Aged Care [2] to support program fidelity and sustainability. A key component of the implementation strategy is partnering with universities to give health and aged-care workforce students the opportunity to participate in the storytelling program in student placements. The benefits of such partnerships are three-fold:
- It minimises the burden on the workforce to undertake story work projects with individual residents but enables all care home staff to participate in group sessions;
- It gives students the opportunity to participate in a meaningful and rewarding activity with older adults;
- It helps develop positive attitudes toward older adults and attracts future workforce to residential aged care.
The program is being evaluated using a Type 3 Hybrid effectiveness-implementation design which permits testing of the implementation while gathering information and observing the effectiveness of the Storytelling Program with a focus on reducing loneliness and social isolation.
*The views and opinions expressed in Knowledge Blogs are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of ARIIA, Flinders University and/or the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.