Abstract

This literature review uses a narrative synthesis methodology to investigate the fields of gerontology and drama therapy. The aim is to discover storytelling interventions with older adults living in institutions, in these fields. It also aims to find how this intervention approach is a useful mental health tool with this population. A qualitative data collection process is used to collect text and narratives from the accumulated nineteen gerontology and three drama therapy studies. By looking at storytelling interventions in the literature, the review offers theoretical conjectures on how storytelling, as a group intervention, exists to facilitate ego integrity in its participants. Furthermore, the review identifies several narratives of commonality within the literature which suggest useful intervention processes for this population: the use of life-story themed sessions, music/objects/images/photographs as stimuli and creating a concretized depiction of the life-stories. The review also identified common mental health changes across studies, indicating factors such as decreased depression, increased socialization, increased perceived quality of life and greater connection to elements of identity facilitated by this intervention. A final discussion identifies how the above findings can contribute towards research in drama therapy, particularly offering guidance in storytelling intervention design.
Keywords: older adults, institutions, storytelling, mental health