The Reading Association

Time for Reading has taken the form of a partnership project between the Reading Association, Central Denmark Region, Aarhus University and five municipalities in the region (Holstebro, Viborg, Ikast-Brande, Herning and Horsens). The project involved collaboration between libraries and health centres, and it offered reading groups to promote mental health, for people affected by depression or stress. The reading groups were facilitated by reading guides trained in the Reading Association and took place in the aforementioned five municipalities. Participants in the reading groups were searched via the health centers. They were men and women between the ages of 18 and 60 who could be referred to reading groups as part of prevention. These were people with mild to moderate depression, stress, anxiety or people with mental dissatisfaction due to a physical illness. Besides the reading groups, Time for Reading also had a research dimension. The practices carried out in the reading groups using the guided joint reading method were tested in relation to mental well-being, symptomatology and social cognition. In this way, an evidence base was created for future interventions, which both actors in the cultural and health sectors, municipalities and the Reading Association will benefit from.