Singing in choirs and helping children read helps maintain older people's mental wellbeing

Improving the mental wellbeing of older people can benefit families and communities as well as reducing or avoiding the need for health and social care, according to new guidance from NICE.

Health watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, has published recommendations on supporting older people’s mental wellbeing and independence. These are primarily aimed at local authorities (including those commissioning services), managers, and practitioners with public health as part of their remit.

These include a number of initiatives such as singing groups, in particular, those involving a professionally led community choir plus arts and crafts and other creative activities.

NICE also recommends tailored, community based physical activity programmes including walking schemes and also intergenerational activities involving; for example, older people helping with reading in schools or young people providing older people with support to use new technologies.

Training in helping older people use ICT such as mobile telephones, internet enabled TVs and computers would also be of benefit, according to the watchdog.

Read the full article here.

The new guideline is available here.