Rethinking Bibliotherapy: Portraits of Gifted Adult Readers

<p>Gifted individuals have unique socioemotional needs due to their sensitivity and intensities. Bibliotherapy is often recommended to gifted persons to help them understand themselves and others and to address affective needs. However, bibliotherapy’s roots are embedded within a clinical background, thus requiring an element of discussion. Instead, I argue that gifted adults use metacognition to replace the need for discussion. Portraits of gifted adult readers (N=7) in their 30s-50s illustrate that metacognition has occurred over their lifespan regarding their reading, with only one participant actively engaging in discussion, and book selection meets the socioemotional needs of the reader. The findings show that using literature to meet the socioemotional needs of a reader without engaging in formal discussion and instead utilizing metacognition is a new form of bibliotherapy, defined as <em>self-determining bibliotherapy</em>.</p> <p>Portraits were synthesized into four themes: gifted reading, reading to address affective needs, the bibliotherapeutic process, and metacognition and annotation. Portraits examine gifted adult readers over their lifespan, using the lens of the bibliotherapeutic process as the conceptual framework for the study: identification (recognizing), catharsis (feeling), insight (thinking), and universalization (applying) (Halstead, 2009). Each portrait’s resonant refrain is the form for reading; however, there is overlap in these forms across participants. Commonalities across portraits include: searching for identity, feelings of social isolation, self-doubt through imposter syndrome, reliance on audiobooks or podcasts in adulthood to allow for multitasking, meaningful novels, and using metacognition. The novels that the gifted readers spoke about over their lifespans had long-lasting effects, with some participants returning to meaningful novels throughout their lives. The adults engaged in self-determining bibliotherapy when using metacognition and applying the bibliotherapeutic process to their readings. This action can be covert or overt. Self-determining bibliotherapy also requires us to broaden the definition of discussion to include internal conversations through engagement with metacognition, annotations, and over lapses of time.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Year

2023

Author dc:creator

• Pileggi, Jervaise M.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Norma Lu Hafenstein
• Paul Michalec
• P. Bruce Uhrmacher
• Bin Ramke

• Bibliotherapy
• Gifted
• Gifted education
• Metacognition
• Reading
• Self-determining bibliotherapy
• Education
• Educational Psychology

Statement dc:rights

• <p>Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.</p>

Language dc:language

English (eng)

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2282

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.du.edu:etd-3271