In case you missed this report of research carried out by the University 
of Groningen relating to the potential benefits of bibliotherapy 
for "slightly to moderately frail older people".

Bibliotherapy increased the self-management ability of slightly to 
moderately frail older people.

According to recent research from the Netherlands, "Self-management 
ability (SMA) is the ability to obtain those resources necessary for the 
production of well-being. With age, SMA becomes increasingly important, if 
one has a large variety of resources, physical and psychosocial losses due 
to the aging process can be substituted or compensated for. This study 
examined whether an increase in SMA would ensure sustainable levels of 
positive well-being among slightly to moderately frail older people."

"A bibliotherapy was developed to increase the SMA of slightly to 
moderately frail older people, and to help these persons to sustain a 
certain level of well-being," said Nynke Frieswijk and colleagues at the 
University of Groningen. "The effectiveness of this bibliotherapy was 
examined by comparing the SMA, mastery, and subjective well-being of 97 
older people participating in the bibliotherapy to those of 96 older 
people in a delayed-treatment control condition."

"The bibliotherapy resulted in a significant increase in SMA and mastery 
compared to the delayed-treatment control condition, and for SMA, this 
effect still existed six months after the intervention," the researchers 
reported. "The increase in SMA among older people who received the 
bibliotherapy prevented a decline in well-being as expected, but only in 
the short-term."

"The current findings show that it is possible to counteract an age-
related decline in well-being, even with only slight to moderate levels of 
frailty. Cheap and easily accessible interventions, like the self-
management bibliotherapy described in this article, may provide a useful 
addition to more traditional gerontological interventions," the authors 
concluded.

Frieswijk and associates published their study in Patient Education and 
Counseling(The effectiveness of a bibliotherapy in increasing the self-
management ability of slightly to moderately frail older people. Patient 
Educ Couns, 2006;61(2):219-227).

For additional information, contact Nynke Frieswijk, Department of Social 
and Organizational Psychology, University of Groningen, Grote Kruisstraat 
2/1, 9712 TS Groningen, The Netherlands. [log in to unmask]