Faith Gibson - International Perspectives on Reminiscence, Life Review and Life Story Work

INTERNATIONAL
PERSPECTIVES ON
REMINISCENCE,
LIFE REVIEW AND
LIFE STORY WORK

EDITED BY FAITH GIBSON

Foreword by Barbara Haight

Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia

Contents

Foreword

Faith Gibson has made another significant contribution to the field of reminiscing with this timely collection. Faith provides an international perspective on reminiscence work, having started her social work career in her home country of Australia, becoming a Fulbright Scholar at the School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago, then moving on as a social worker and academic to Northern Ireland, and finally continuing her story as a dementia expert both in Northern Ireland and in her birth country of Australia, where she currently resides. Faith is one of the foremost experts on the use of reminiscence with those who have dementia. She is the recipient of an OBE, a millennium medal of the British Geriatrics Society, a lifetime achievement award from the British Association of Social Workers and has an honorary doctorate from the University of Stirling. She is the author of numerous publications, training manuals, chapters and books, and as such she is widely respected. From this background and expertise, Faith presents a global view of reminiscing.

This new book, International Perspectives on Reminiscence, Life Review and Life Story Work , is the most comprehensive review of the field in several years. The book combines the analysis of experienced authors with the questions and ideas of new scholars. This global combination of authors, working at various levels of academic and practice expertise, should stimulate further progressive thinking as the contributors present ideas on related issues from diverse parts of the world. For example, some authors focus on the ways of reminiscing through memoir writing, or autobiography, or the arts. Although these writers explore the common topic of reminiscing, each one investigates the process differently. They hold different viewpoints, use different techniques, and report different outcomes. This book will inform readers of the accomplishments and achievements of the last 16 years and inspire them to develop new ideas that will continue to advance reminiscence work. To this end, the book is divided into four parts: Recent and Contemporary Research; Age and Cultural Variations and Applications; Implications of Reminiscence, Life Review and Life Story Work for Health and Wellbeing; and Technology in Reminiscence Practice, Training and Development.

on reminiscence research contains a comprehensive critical analysis of recent research by American and British writers. A report on an updated Cochrane Review provides a timely, systematic evaluation of research on reminiscence in healthcare with people who have dementia. The research section will inform researchers of the latest developments in the field and provide a road map for their future work.

is rich with ideas revealing the diversity of reminiscing as an intervention with people of different ages and from different cultures. We see the importance of reminiscing over time and with people at different stages of the life cycle, and the part played by reminiscence in peoples search for meaning in various cultures. Here we find that, surprisingly, children use reminiscing as much or more than older people. For many who reminiscence, the story the end product is the most important outcome, but for others it is the therapeutic process of revisiting and reconsidering memories which is more important.

talks about gaining insight through sharing other peoples memories as we live the experience of dementia through a contributor writing her own life story. The health and wellbeing gains for people with depression and anxiety and the inherent power of being heard receive attention from several contributors. From these examples, the reader can see that each author defines the use and application of reminiscence for themselves and uses the experience in their own way while drawing from the established understanding of the various purposes served by reminiscence. Here there are accounts of practical projects drawn from different countries and using a wide variety of creative arts to stimulate recall of the past as a means of enriching the present, decreasing isolation, increasing self-understanding and sustaining relationships.

by the one recalling the past, but also the resulting memoirs are enjoyed by all. Such tangible records can then be looked at many times, alone or shared with others, as people continue to reminisce and stimulate others to do the same, and by doing so family legacies may be created.

also reports on the growing use of technology in the work of reminiscing. One chapter describes the foundation and delivery of an online Certificate in Reminiscence and Life Story Work, a program provided by the Center for Continuing Education at the University of WisconsinSuperior (UWS-CCE). The International Institute for Reminiscence and Life Review (IIRLR) and the Association of Personal Historians contributed to the development of this Certificate program. This series of classes provides certification for individuals to learn about and use reminiscing and life review. Earlier chapters describe the formation of leaders of guided autobiographical writing groups and a European apprenticeship training and development model to develop skills for reminiscing with people with dementia and their carers. Another describes the use of the internet to deliver interactive classes. The internet can also be a tool for running an autobiography group, allowing people from various locations to share their stories with one another. Faiths book demonstrates how far weve come, but future work in the field could be even more impressive with increased knowledge and use of information technology, artificial intelligence and neuroscience.

Reminiscence now has an international journal that provides legitimacy to the work that is being done. The International Institute for Reminiscence and Life Review sponsors an international meeting every two years to discuss work in progress, and the European Reminiscence Network continues to pursue its reminiscence project work, primarily concerned with dementia. There is no doubt that this book will move us forwards again, hastening further growth. Faith Gibson will always be associated with reminiscence work and many of us in the international reminiscence community will always be grateful and indebted to her for continuing to lead the way. I personally am honoured to write the foreword for this book.

Barbara Haight DRPH FAAN FGSA
Professor Emeritus, College of Nursing
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, USA

Part 1

RECENT AND
CONTEMPORARY
RESEARCH

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Faith Gibson

This book has many worthy forbears. Over a number of years, numerous books and journal papers have reported and reviewed literature concerned with reminiscence, life review and life story work research and practice; they identified current issues and concerns and suggested various areas for further research and exploration. Risking ignoring or neglecting some of these pivotal international milestone publications, by placing this book within its wider historical intellectual lineage may assist contemporary readers, and especially those new to reminiscence and other narrative methods, to appreciate the rich foundations on which this book builds and the intellectual, practice and clinical debts we present authors owe to our predecessors. In the main, the works cited in this introductory chapter refer to major milestone publications that have personally influenced me during my 40 years or so of preoccupation with studying memory and seeking to understand how memories and their recall influence thinking and behaviour in the present. This introduction does not pretend to be a comprehensive history of the burgeoning growth of interest in reminiscence and reminiscence work, that sometimes not always helpfully, in my view is referred to as reminiscence therapy (Gibson 1994, 2004; Haight and Burnside 1993). Rather, it refers to writing and other developments that have intrigued and excited me, informed my own research, teaching and practice, and helped me to make fruitful connections between personal experience and academic pursuits.