Persuasive Story Table: Promoting Exchange of Life History Stories Among Elderly in Institutions.

Technicians from the Waag Society in Amsterdam developed an intelligent story- telling table, to be used in institutional care facilities for older persons. The core of the table is a video-equipment with installed 15 to 25 short video's (5 - 15 minutes) with historical stories from the years 1920 - 1950. Around the table there are 4 -6 TV-screens to look at the video's. The screens are located on a somewhat lower platform, in order to enable those who are sitting around the table to offer the best possibility to see the screen and each other and to exchange experiences from earlier life. The short video's are meant to start a process of exchange among those around the table by commenting on the video and telling their own life stories [1]. The involvement in the storytelling process was expected to promote social and emotional wellbeing and cognitive functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]