Research
The Reader Organisation’s research partner, the Centre for Research into Reading, Information and Linguistic Systems (CRILS) at the University of Liverpool, seeks to set the world agenda in:
- Reading, health and well-being
- New digital technologies and the future of meaning
- The role of literature in modelling creative thinking about human existence
PUBLISHED REPORTS
‘A Literature-Based Intervention for Older People Living with Dementia’ (Davis, P. Billington, J. Carroll, J. Healey, C. Kinderman, P., 2012)
Funded by the Headley Trust, the conclusions of a six-month study found that a literature-based intervention provided by Get Into Reading produces a significant reduction in dementia symptoms and benefits the quality of life of both the residents and staff-carers.
The quantitative and qualitative research also found that short and long-term memory was positively influenced, listening skills were improved and the provision of activity by an external organisation enhanced patient care.
‘An investigation into the therapeutic benefits of reading in relation to depression and well-being’ (Josie Billington, Chris Dowrick, Andrew Hamer, Jude Robinson, and Clare Williams, 2011)
This one-year research study concluded that shared reading groups helped patients suffering from depression in terms of their social, mental, emotional and psychological well-being. It found that there were four significant ‘mechanisms of action’ involved in the reading group intervention, three of which were essential to its success, the fourth influential:
- A rich, varied, non-prescriptive diet of serious literature
- The role of the group facilitator in making the literature ‘live’ in the room
- The role of the group in offering support and a sense of community
- The creation of stimulating, non-pressurised, non-judgemental atmosphere (‘not like school’, as one participant emphatically put it) overrode considerations of physical environment
The report also established what types of literature work, why they work and how they work in the specific context of depressive illness.
Download the executive summary
Current Research Projects
‘Shakespeared Brain’
This pioneering research seeks to demonstrate how challenging literature can ‘shift mental pathways’. The most recent findings of monitored brain activity in volunteers reading works by Shakespeare, Wordsworth and Eliot produced significant electrical activity in the areas of the brain connected to language, memory and emotion, compared to ‘straightforward’ translations of the text which produced less. This makes it possible to suggest that great literature may have real therapeutic value. Read an article about this work in The Daily Telegraph
A Literature-Based Intervention for Women Prisoners
This pilot study funded by National Personality Disorder Team (Department of Health/Ministry of Justice), seeks to capture the impact of Get Into Reading groups for female prisoners at HMP Low Newton, Durham, where deliberate self-harm is of particular concern. Report due Spring 2013.
A Literature-Based Intervention for Sufferers of Chronic Pain
Two weekly Get Into Reading groups for those suffering from chronic pain – one in hospital, one in the community – have been set up to investigate the effects that a reading intervention might have for sufferers of chronic pain. This study has been funded by DCMS and Mersey Care NHS Trust. Report due Summer 2013.
Participatory Arts for Well-Being: Past and Present Practices
A collaboration between University of Liverpool, Exeter and Glamorgan in partnership with The Reader Organisation and the Young Foundation (funded by the AHRC), the study will offer analytical studies of flagship community arts practices, including Get Into Reading, resulting in a special issue of the Journal of Arts and Communities in 2013.
A Practice-informed Study of the Theoretical Bases for Bibliotherapy
Building on the University of Liverpool’s groundbreaking MA Reading in Practice, the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award partners us with CRILS and Mersey Care NHS Trust, this pioneering project explores the existing theoretical foundations for the practice of bibliotherapy, or ‘reading as cure’, in English literature.
