The research aimed to develop a group storytelling activity, balancing the benefits of reminiscing and in-the-moment conversation. It noted that participants exhibited more fluent and animated speech when reacting to present events. The activity involved participants describing images and associated sensory details, then collectively creating a story. Emotional well-being was measured before and after sessions. The goal was to offer enjoyable and creative social interactions for socially isolated older adults, with the activity available both in-person and online. The data collection comprises situational measurements of emotional well-being before and after workshops (Camic, 2020); photographs of two workshops; participant feedback; completed group stories; published product content and certificate of trademark registration; Powerpoint presentations and conference posters; team planning and reflections; ethics certificate and consent templates.The principle aim of the research is to develop a group story-telling activity for people living with dementia. The justification for doing so may be found in the contrasting linguistic behaviour of people with dementia when they are reminiscing about episodes in their earlier life and when they are reacting to events in-the-moment. In-the-moment speech appears to be more fluent, supported by shorter turns and shared conversational roles at these points; and agentive, i.e. linguistic directives, first-person declaratives and other deontic expressions of intent, and taking the first turn in an agency pair, e.g. asking a question, are evident. The person appears to be more animated. Conversely, whilst group reminiscence therapy is suggested for consideration by NICE (2018), some evidence of negative effects in one-to-one reminiscence has been reported, as the speaker becomes aware of the possible contrast between happier past times and their present situation. The proposed activity would achieve a balance between the two conditions, represented by the natural tendency of people to talk about themselves and the more stimulating interaction enabled in social contexts. Before and after each session, whether in-person or online, participants will complete a situational measurement of their emotional well-being via an adaptation of the CWS (Camic, 2020). The stimulus provided would be a hard-copy image, one per person, from a collection that makes up a storyboard, i.e. it is possible for the images to be placed in an order that invites a narrative. Several orders are possible. Each person would be invited to describe their image, any music it reminded them of, and any associated sensory details, such as tastes, touch, and scents. In the next part of the activity, the participants are invited to agree an order to all the images, perhaps by laying them out on a table top, and collectively building up a story that makes sense of them. This stage involves negotiation and in-the-moment discussion. Afterwards, participants would be given hard and soft copies of the group-authored story to keep. We intend the activity to be available in-person and online to suit participants and conditions. The aim is to provide people living with dementia and, by extension, older people who may feel socially isolated, with opportunities for enjoyable and creative social interaction that builds an end-product.

Data was collected using participants surveys, audio and video-recording of workshops and observations.