This poster reports findings from a pilot study of the effects of an evidence-based health intervention in which groups read serious literature aloud together, ultimately creating a caring community. Developed in the UK by The Reader Organization, “Shared Reading” has a 10-year history of application and research in public health in the UK and other Anglophone countries, but is new to the USA, and has not been researched with a university student population. This study, based on research from the University of Liverpool’s Centre for Research into Reading, Literature, and Society (CRILS), uses mixed methods, with quantitative data from pre- and post-intervention self-report questionnaires on mindfulness and quality of life, and qualitative data from post-intervention interviews with participants. Data suggest that participants’ levels of mindfulness increased (in both state and trait measures), quality of life improved, and the intervention was enjoyable and prompted desire to continue.
