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Exciting News! A Dementia-Friendly Book Club

Posted by Karen Thompson on

After receiving a dementia diagnosis, it can be challenging to remain integrated in your community, and this shouldn't be the case. Many avid readers diagnosed with dementia stop reading altogether due to the few social and community supports that encourage reading for people living with dementia (Moos, 2011). Activity preferences do not change after a dementia diagnosis and providing opportunities for persons living with dementia to continue with their favourite leisure activity is essential (Kolanowski & Richards, 2002; Phinney, Chaudhury, & O'Connor, 2007). Leisure offers a variety of benefits for persons living with dementia, including maintaining their sense of self, forming new relationships, feeling accomplished, creating new memories, having a purpose in their community, and recognizing their strengths and abilities through leisure (Benbow & Kingston, 2016; Genoe & Dupuis, 2011). 

Acknowledging this, Marlena Books wants to continue to empower persons living with dementia to remain socially integrated in their communities and read beyond dementia. It is our pleasure to announce that we have received funding from the Government of Canada's New Horizons for Seniors Program to offer a dementia-friendly book club in the Kitchener region. 

The book club will be offered every Thursday from 11:00a.m.-12:00p.m. at the Kitchener Public Library - Central Location. Readers will have the opportunity to read from the Marlena Books collection, create their own stories, engage in discussion and fun activities, and choose their own books to read at the library. We want the book club to reflect the preferences of readers involved. We are so excited for this upcoming opportunity and for readers at any stage of their dementia journey to continue reading with us. 

Looking to participate or volunteer? Contact karen@marlenabooks.com for more information. We look forward to hearing from you! 

 

 

References

Benbow, S.M., & Kingston, P. (2016). ‘Talking about my experiences…at times disturbing yet positive’: Producing narratives with people living with dementia. Dementia, 15(5), 1034-1052. doi: 10.1177/1471301214551845

Genoe, R. M., & Dupuis, S. L. (2011). “I’m just like I always was”: a phenomenological exploration of leisure, identity and dementia. Leisure, 35(4), 423-452. doi: 10.1080/14927713.2011.649111

Kolanowski, A.M., & Richards, K.C. (2002). Introverts and extroverts: Leisure activity behaviour in persons with dementia. Activities, Adaptation, & Aging, 26(4), 1-16. doi: 10.1300/J016v26n04_01

Moos, I. (2011). Humor, irony and sarcasm in severe Alzheimer's dementia - a corrective to retrogenesis?Ageing and Society, 31(2), 328-246. 

Phinney, A., Chaudhury, H., & O’Connor, D. L. (2007). Doing as much as I can do: The meaning of activity for people with dementia. Aging & Mental Health, 11(4), 384-393. doi: 10.1080/13607860601086470

 


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