The Effect of Regular Book Reading Activity on The Mental Health of Older Adults

Aim: In this study, it was aimed to determine the effect of regular book reading activity applied to the older adults who receive institutional care on their mental health. Method and Materi-als: The study included 43 conscious older adults, who stayed in different institutions in Sivas, had a mini-mental test of 17 points and above, had no hearing and communication disabilities and volunteered to participate in the study. Data were collected with, data collection form and Stand-ardized Mini Mental Test scale. The obtained study data were analyzed with SPSS 22.0. The signif-icance level was determined as 0.05 at the 95% confidence interval. Findings: While the average age of the older adults participating in the study was determined as 69.58 ± 6.58, it is seen that their distribution by gender is very close to each other. It is seen that the female participants (51.2%, N=22) are in the ratio of male participants (48.8%, N=21), most of them are primary school graduates (39.5%) and the rate of continuous drug use is quite high (90.7%). In the form in which the presence of chronic disease was also questioned, it was not included in the rate because all of the participants stated that they had at least one chronic disease. While the pre-activity mean SMMT score of the participants was determined as 21.39 ± 2.44, the post-activity mean SMMT score was 23.32 ± 2.10. The difference is statistically significant (p<0.05). There is a significant increase in the mental levels of the older adults after the activity. Results: Due to the visual impairments with advancing age and the low literacy level in advanced ages, reading the book they want to the older adults at certain times every day, allowing them to listen to the book they are curious about instead of trying to read has positively affected their mental health. Regu-lar book reading activity planning for the older adults can be considered as an important occupa-tional therapy