The book’s a conversation starter’
A realist exploration of the salutogenic potential of reading for pleasure
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12691748 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mihirini Sirisena (0000-0002-0717-2636, Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, corresponding author), Monique Lhussier (0000-0001-9383-2356, Northumbria University), Eileen Kaner (0000-0002-7169-9344, Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK), Angela Wearn (0000-0003-1349-6087, Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK), Joanne Gray (0000-0001-5425-4979, Northumbria University), Rebecca James (0009-0005-9843-8290, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, London, UK), Sam Redgate (0000-0001-5875-257X, Northumbria University) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 504-512 |
| Publication date | 2024-04-30 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Medical Humanities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1468-215X • E-ISSN: 1473-4265 |
| Publisher | BMJ (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1136/medhum-2023-012880 |
| PMID | 38688706 |
| OpenAlex | W4396508094 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 42 |
Reading for Wellbeing (RfW) is a pilot initiative, aimed at improving mental health and well-being through supporting access and increasing opportunities to read for pleasure. RfW was implemented across six North-East local authorities in England and employed Community Reading Workers to support access to books and reading for targeted populations. The current study used realist methodology to understand context, potential mechanisms of action, acceptability and reported outcomes. Data generation and analysis were conducted iteratively, using focus groups, interviews and observations.The analysis of the collated data highlighted that a positive attitude towards reading and a desire for social connections were significant motivators for engagement with RfW. This paper postulates eight programme theories relating to that context, which describe key mechanisms within RfW linked to engagement with reading, well-being, connections and practice. The paper concludes that previous notions of positivity associated with reading for pleasure enable participants to experience RfW as a positive social encounter. This positive social encounter enhances participants' multiple resistance resources such as increased sense of self-efficacy and connectedness that could impact on their sense of well-being
Aesthetics · Art · Conversation · Linguistics · Pleasure · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · Reading (process · Sociology · Communication · Health, psychology, and well-being · Historical and modern epidemiology studies · Philosophy · Psychology · School Health and Nursing Education
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Large‐System Transformation in Health Care
Boundary work
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Making sense of mental health difficulties through live reading
Bibliotherapy in practice
Shared Reading
Reading between the lines
Get into Reading as an intervention for common mental health problems
The Experience of Older Adults with Sight Loss Participating in Audio Book Groups
Who cares? At what price? The hidden costs of socially engaged arts labour and the moral failure of cultural policy
Using computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (Caqdas; NVivo) to assist in the complex process of realist theory generation, refinement and testing
Advancing the social identity approach to health and well‐being
The craft of interviewing in realist evaluation
The salutogenic model as a theory to guide health promotion
Social prescribing and classed inequality
A chapter a day
The effects of reading material on social and non-social cognition
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| Highly cited | No |
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