Study title

Sociobarometer 2005

Dataset ID Number

FSD2384

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2384
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2384

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health (STKL)

Abstract

This wide-ranging survey charted expert opinion on the welfare of Finnish citizens, and on the present state of welfare services. The respondents were managers or management groups of municipal social services, municipal health centres, employment offices, major social and health organisations (voluntary organisations), or local offices of the Social Insurance Institution.

The respondents evaluated the welfare of various population groups, and rated the possibilities of their own organisation/sector to support these population groups (e.g. single-parent families, the unemployed, immigrants, chronically ill persons). They were also asked to indicate which population group needed new sociopolitical support actions the most. Public social and health services, employment services, services provided by the Social Insurance Institution, and services provided by private enterprises were evaluated. Co-operation between different bodies was also surveyed.

Further questions covered securing social, health, cultural and education services in the respondents' area of operation with current resources. Socio-economic situation of the municipality and the area of operation were charted. Changes in staff numbers from 2004 to 2005 in the respondents' own organisation, staff sufficiency, success in recruiting qualified staff, organisation's ability to take care of developing the staff's vocational skills, and prevailing working conditions were estimated. Some questions explored public service contracts, the impact of competitive tendering, problems related to welfare benefits, changes in the number of services provided by the respondents' organisation in 2004, and the most central development projects.

In addition, the respondents were asked whether there were need for additional services in their area of operation. They also estimated the importance of different bodies in taking care of citizens' welfare both now and in the future, the importance of social and health care organisations from the viewpoint of various activities, and reasons for satisfaction and concerns in their organisation. Views on joint service points and various broader strategies were queried.

Managers and management groups of municipal social services departments and local offices of Social Insurance Institution were asked questions on subsidising the care of close relatives, impact of increased state subsidies on social and health care operating costs, impact of national information resource planning on the respondents' own resource planning, service vouchers, and care guarantee (came into effect in Finland on March 1st, 2005).

Managers and management groups of municipal social services were presented with a set of questions on the number of qualified staff in the municipality, occupational skills of social service professionals with various educational backgrounds, financial situation of the municipality both now and in the future, and social service provision in the respondents' own municipality of residence. Further questions canvassed whether there was queue for the service needs assessment for the elderly, and whether the amount of funds allocated to the care of close relatives had changed.

The respondents working in the local offices of the Social Insurance Institution or in employment offices were asked questions on counselling, redirecting clients to other service providers, changes caused by the enactment of the Equality Act, and systematic ways of engaging in interest group co-operation. In addition, the respondents working in the offices of the Social Insurance Institution were asked to assess the demand of various services and benefits in 2004 and various issues related to rehabilitation and income support.

Managers and management groups of major social and health organisations (voluntary organisations) were asked questions related to the focus of their activity, staff, budget, financing, challenges and changes in their activity, and the importance of various forms of activity for managing different services and tasks.

The respondents working in municipal health centres were asked to assess whether the preconditions required for care guarantee to come into effect had been met in their area of operation. Final questions probed the use of special measures and additional resources required by the care guarantee.

Background variables included the respondent's organisation, R's status in the organisation and the location of the organisation.

Keywords

care of dependants; cooperation; employment services; health services; medical centres; organizations; personnel; public sector; social economy; social services; social work; strategies; welfare policy

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Medical and health sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Social welfare policy (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social welfare systems/structures (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Health care services and policies (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Sociobarometers

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health

Data Producers

• Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health

Time Period Covered

2004

Collection Dates

2004-12 – 2005-02

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Organization/Institution

Universe

Municipal social administration offices, health centres, and employment offices of all Finnish municipalities plus the local offices of the Social Insurance Institution, and the major Finnish social and health organisations (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

The Sociobarometer 2005 questionnaire was sent to social administration offices, health centres, and "full service" employment offices of all Finnish municipalities (the Åland Islands excluded), to the offices of the Social Insurance Institution (open daily), and to major social and health organisations (voluntary organisations). Each organisation received one questionnaire, except social administration offices and health centres of large cities received several, according to their sphere of authority. The questionnaire was addressed to managing directors. The data were mostly collected via online questionnaire. Health centre data were mostly collected via mail survey because of missing e-mail addresses. A paper questionnaire was posted to all respondents in the second round.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

54

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

Questions 5, 78, 34D, 36D, and 78D are numerical, but since the respondents gave verbal responses to them, the variables were archived as open-ended responses.

Variables indicating municipality and organisation have been removed from the data. Responses to open-ended questions have been anonymised if needed by replacing municipality or organisation with the letter 'x'.

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health (STKL): Sociobarometer 2005 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2009-02-11). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2384

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Special Terms and Conditions for Access

Users of the data shall send the Suomen sosiaali ja terveys ry (SOSTE) a copy of all reports, theses, articles, other publications or material based on or using the data. If printed, to the mail address: SOSTE Suomen sosiaali ja terveys ry, Tutkimus, Yliopistonkatu 5, 00100 HELSINKI, FINLAND. If electronic, to the e-mail address: tutkimus@soste.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Vuorinen, Marja & Särkelä, Riitta & Perälahti, Anne & Peltosalmi, Juha & Peisa, Leena & Londén, Pia & Eronen, Anne (2005). Vertaansa vailla. Ajankohtaiskuva sosiaali- ja terveysjärjestöistä. Helsinki: Sosiaali- ja terveysturvan keskusliitto ry.

Vuorinen, Marja & Särkelä, Riitta & Perälahti, Anne & Peltosalmi, Juha & Londén, Pia (2004). Paikkansa pitävät. Sosiaali- ja terveysjärjestöt paikallisina toimijoina. Helsinki: Sosiaali- ja terveysturvan keskusliitto ry.

Eronen, Anne & Londén, Pia & Perälahti, Anne & Siltaniemi, Aki & Särkelä, Riitta (2005). Sosiaalibarometri 2005: hyvinvointipalvelujen tuottajien ajankohtainen tilanne ja näkemys kansalaisten hyvinvoinnista. Helsinki: Sosiaali- ja terveysturvan keskusliitto.

Selkälä, Arto (2008) Tutkijan valintojen seurauksista lomaketutkimuksessa. Teoksessa Lempiäinen, Kirsti & Löytty, Olli & Kinnunen, Merja (toim.) Tutkijan kirja. Vastapaino. Tampere.

Selkälä, Arto (2013) Kansalaisuuden hallinta suomalaisessa sosiaali- ja terveyspolitiikassa. Akateeminen väitöskirja. Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta. Lapin yliopisto. Lapin yliopistokustannus. Rovaniemi.