How can reading for pleasure improve mental health and wellbeing?
Evidence Hub
How can reading for pleasure improve mental health and wellbeing: A realist review of the evidence
Quick-read summary
There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that reading for pleasure improves mental health. However, the studies so far do not explain how reading for pleasure leads to improving wellbeing. Researchers looked at the published research on reading activities, to understand how reading for pleasure could impact on wellbeing.
The research found if someone enjoys reading for pleasure and wants to meet others, joining a reading group led by a skilled facilitator can help them connect their thoughts and feelings with the outside world. This often leads to feeling more confident and more connected to others.
These findings are important because they show who reading interventions may appeal to and work for, if reading activities are used to improve wellbeing. Our findings also highlight on how reading activities could improve wellbeing.
Who is this evidence summary useful for?
- Health and social care professionals
- Community organisations running reading or arts programmes
- Policymakers looking at non-clinical mental health support
- Researchers
- Members of the public.
Detailed summary
What is the issue?
Mental health and wellbeing are major public health priorities. There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that reading for pleasure improves mental health. However, the studies so far do not explain how reading for pleasure leads to improving wellbeing.
Research summary
- Researchers carried out a realist review (a method that looks at what works, why and for whom)
- They analysed studies from health, social care and community settings. 43 studies were included in the review.
- They identified the contexts and mechanisms that highlight how reading activities can improve wellbeing
- They focused on practical insights for implementation.
What did the research find?
For participants who thought of reading in a positive way, reading activities offered many opportunities to:
- Get away from daily stressors
- See the world through the eyes of the characters they meet in books
- Make new memories or reconnect with memories participants had of reading for pleasure
- Think about the story lines, their own lives and the world around them in different ways
- Make sense of storylines in a different way by talking about them in reading groups
These opportunities increased feelings of positivity, self-understanding and empathy in participants, which lead to a more positive sense of wellbeing.
Read the full research paper, here.
Why is this important?
These findings are important because they show who reading interventions may appeal to and work for, if reading activities are used as a way to improve wellbeing. The findings also highlight on how reading activities could improve wellbeing.
Recommendations for policy and practice
- Support guided reading groups in communities: Reading-for-pleasure activities work best when they are led by trained, supportive facilitators who create a safe and welcoming space for people to share and reflect.
- Use reading for pleasure to support wellbeing and social connection: Reading groups can help people feel more confident, relaxed, and connected to others, and should be included in wellbeing and loneliness-reduction programmes.
- Make reading enjoyable, flexible, and choice-based: Let people choose what they read and how they take part, so reading feels relatable and immersive rather than pressured or academic.
- Learn more about who reading works for and why: Support further research to understand how reading affects people who do not already enjoy reading, and how different backgrounds and types of reading influence wellbeing.
Additional information
This review was undertaken as part of a larger study – Reading for Wellbeing.
Reading for Wellbeing (RfW) was a pilot initiative, aimed at improving mental health and wellbeing through supporting access and increasing opportunities to read for pleasure. It was implemented across six North-East local authorities in England and employed Community Reading Workers to support access to books and reading for targeted populations.