Crafting Well-being: A Scoping Review of the Benefits of Participation in Fibre Craft Communities and Implications for Activities for Older Adults

The COVID-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus the need for positive mental health and well-being as communities at large, and older adults in particular, struggle to cope with social isolation, loneliness, stress, anxiety, and uncertainty. At the same time, there has been a resurgence of interest in traditional home-based crafts that are both compatible with social distancing requirements, yet fulfill one’s passion for fibre craft. This paper reviews the literature to understand the ways in which participation in fibre craft communities, organized as informal or formal collectives of people, contributed to their well-being. Nineteen articles that met the inclusion criteria were analyzed for this scoping review. The findings show that participants of fibre craft communities perceived overlapping benefits of craft-related activities that corresponded with several aspects of well-being. The paper discusses how knowledge from this scoping review can be used to guide the development of activities for older adults