Storytelling allows elders to transfer values and meaning to younger generations
Storytelling allows elders to transfer values and meaning to younger generations
By Mary Ann McColl
Professor, School of
Rehabilitation Therapy,
Queen’s University, Ontario
January 18, 2023
If you spent time over the holidays with elderly relatives or friends, you may have heard many of the same stories repeated — perhaps stories you’d heard over the years, or even over the past few hours.
Repeated storytelling can sometimes be unnerving for friends and families, raising concerns about a loved one’s potential cognitive decline, memory loss or perhaps even the onset of dementia.
Our research at Queen’s University suggests there is another way to think about repeated storytelling that makes it easier to listen and engage with the stories. We interviewed 20 middle-aged adults who felt they had heard the same stories over and over from their aging parent. We asked them to tell us those stories and we recorded and transcribed them.
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