Bibliotherapy in Social Work: Can a Guided Reading Improve Quality of Life and Social Functioning of Clients?

Abstract

This article describes a specific therapeutic method used by helping professionals, librarians, and others to address various issues and needs of their service users. The guided therapeutic use of selected books, including audiobooks, stories, different genres of imaginative literature as an adjunct to intervention is applicable in all stages of life and with a variety of population groups and problems they have. The authors present definitions of the key terms and brief history of the development of bibliotherapy, based on literature review, as well as set out the applicability of bibliotherapy in health care and social work practice. It is an attempt to integrate social work, professional librarianship, health care, and bibliotherapy in this article.

Keywords

• bibliotherapy
• helping professions
• social work
• cultural competence