Autobiographical Narration as a Tool for the Empowerment of Older Adults’ Subjective and Psychological Wellbeing in Nursing Homes

Objectives: Conceiving narration as a resource to promote older people’s wellbeing, the present work aimed to implement a narrative-based intervention to empower the subjective and psychological wellbeing of older adults living in nursing homes. Methods: Twenty-one nursing-home residents took part in a narrative training experience consisting of three weekly interview sessions. During each interview, a psychologist helped the participants to construct an autobiographical narrative about their present life in the nursing home based on a Deconstruction-Reconstruction technique. Subjective and psychological wellbeing variables were assessed before and after the intervention. Results: Subjective but not psychological wellbeing increased over the course of the intervention. The participants reported to appreciate the intervention. Conclusions: Although preliminary, the results suggest that brief narrative training based on narrative therapy can positively affect nursing-home residents’ subjective wellbeing. Clinical Implications: Brief narrative interventions implementing deconstruction-reconstruction techniques are feasible for long-term care residents.