Study title

Welfare and Services in Finland 2004: Face-to-Face Interviews of the Elderly

Dataset ID Number

FSD2885

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2885

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Moisio, Pasi (National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES))

Other Identification/Acknowledgements

• Nieminen, Markku (Statistics Finland)
• Nyberg, Riina (Statistics Finland)

Abstract

Welfare and Services in Finland is a panel survey that combines telephone and face-to-face interviews, postal surveys and register data. The aim of the study is to offer up-to-date, reliable and extensive research data on Finnish welfare and the use of welfare services. This dataset is based on data collected through face-to-face interviews from people aged over 79. Main topics included parents and childhood, housing, economic circumstances, physical and mental health, accessibility and use of health services, need for care and assistance, social networks, and feelings about own life.

First, the respondents were asked about their parents' latest occupations, financial circumstances in the childhood home, the respondent's status in employment and occupation before retiring, and age when retired. Relating to current housing, questions charted tenure, number of rooms, floor area, satisfaction with various aspects of the housing, and difficulties with the home. Some questions studied the respondents' economic circumstances, for example, savings and ability to pay for food. They were also asked whether different services were close enough to their home (e.g. grocery shop, bank).

Relating to health, questions were asked about health status, exercise habits, alcohol consumption, smoking, limiting long-term illnesses or disabilities and their effects on daily life, and visits to a doctor, nurse or hospital in the previous 12 months. Further questions probed where the respondents would primarily try get a doctor's appointment during daytime, whether they had received sufficient care for health problems, which reasons had potentially hampered receiving treatment, and whether they had had to wait unreasonably long to receive treatment (e.g. to get a doctor's appointment in a health centre). Dental health and visits to a dentist were surveyed as well as prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs and natural remedies used.

Need for care and assistance was charted by asking about managing with daily activities without help, help received for different activities, sufficiency of and satisfaction with the assistance received, person or organisation who helped the respondents the most, services requested in the previous 12 months, the most important services in terms of daily life, and financial problems caused by service fees.

With regard to social networks and participation, the respondents were asked whether they assisted or looked after a person close to them, how often they were in touch with different people, how satisfied they were with their relationships and support received from other people, whether they had felt lonely in the previous two weeks, whether they had enough time to do things and enough activities during the day, and which activities they had done in the previous two weeks (e.g. participated in the activities of an organisation or association, tutored or mentored other people). Several questions relating to thoughts and feelings were presented (e.g. "Do you get angry more easily than before?"). Further questions charted perceptions of the quality of life as well as satisfaction with own health, experiences of physical pain, enjoyment of life, sense of significance, ability to focus on things, sense of security or insecurity in daily life, healthiness of physical environment, ability to do things (in terms of, for instance, money and energy), ability to move, satisfaction with various things in life (e.g. neighbourhood of residence), negative feelings, and experiences of great personal significance in the previous two years.

Finally, relating to attitudes, the respondents' views were charted on the best housing alternative for elderly people who require care and assistance, the body that should hold the main responsibility for elderly care in Finland, respect of younger age groups for the ageing population, ways in which the funding for elderly care could be safeguarded, discrimination against the elderly in Finland, preferable ways of providing health services, and the development of the household's economic situation and own life circumstances in the future.

Background variables included the respondent's age, gender, and education (3-level ISCED classification) as well as disposable income of the household, region of residence, degree of urbanisation of the municipality of residence, household size, and number of children in the household.

Keywords

activities of daily living; care of the elderly; elderly; family policy; health; health policy; health services; home help; housing for the elderly; living conditions; quality of life; satisfaction; social networks; social services; social welfare; welfare policy; well-being (health)

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Health care services and policies (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Specific social services: use and availability (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Welfare and Services in Finland

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (C) available only for research including master's theses.

Data Collector

• Nieminen, Markku (Statistics Finland)
• Nyberg, Riina (Statistics Finland)

Time Period Covered

2004

Collection Dates

2004-09-06 – 2004-10-29

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

People aged 80 years or older residing permanently in Finland (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Simple random

Simple random sample drawn from the population database of Statistics Finland.

Collection Mode

Face-to-face interview

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

72.5

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

2.0

Weighting

The dataset contains weights that correct for the bias caused by non-response. Sampling weights for both persons and households have been created by using a calibration method. The starting point for this method is the creation of a base weight, i.e. the inverse of a sampling unit's inclusion probability. In calibration, the base weights were adjusted so that certain known distributions of the population could be estimated without errors by using the new, so-called calibration weights. The calibration weights also enable more accurate estimates of unknown distributions than base weights. The person weights were calibrated by age (5-year grouping), gender, statistical grouping of municipalities (rural, densely populated and urban municipalities), and region. The household weights were calibrated by household size and region (with the capital area as a separate region). There are two expansion weight variables and two sampling weight variables in the data: BV5A, a population-level expansion weight, persons; BV6A, a population-level expansion weight, households; BV5B, a sampling weight, persons; and BV6B, a sampling weight, households. BV5A and BV6A expand the data to represent the population in the sampling frame, that is, to represent 170,767 persons and 133,240 households. BV5B and BV6B are sampling weights whose expected value is 1, that is, they only correct for the non-response bias, but enable carrying out statistical analysis with the weighted 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

Moisio, Pasi (National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES)): Welfare and Services in Finland 2004: Face-to-Face Interviews of the Elderly [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-09-27). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2885

Deposit Requirement

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

Moisio, Pasi (2006). HYPA 2004 aineistokuvaus. Hyvinvointi & palvelut 2004 -kyselyn aineistokuvaus. Työpapereita 6/2006 [verkkodokumentti]. Helsinki: Sosiaali- ja terveysalan tutkimus- ja kehittämiskeskus (STAKES). Saatavissa: http://www.julkari.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/77715/Tp6-2006.pdf?sequence=1 [viitattu 26.5.2014].

Related Publications

Palomäki, Liisa-Maria (2013). Eläkkeelle siirtyminen ja subjektiivinen taloudellinen hyvinvointi. Tulomuutosten ja toimeentulokokemusten tarkastelua. Yhteiskuntapolitiikka 78 (4), 378 - 394.

Moisio, Pasi (2006). HYPA 2004 aineistokuvaus. Hyvinvointi & Palvelut 2004 -kyselyn aineistokuvaus. Helsinki: Stakes. Stakesin työpapapereita 6/2006. URN:NBN:fi-fe201204193731

Suomalaisten hyvinvointi 2006 (2006). Toim. Kautto, Mikko. Helsinki: Stakes.

Suomalaisten hyvinvointi 2014 (2014). Toim. Vaarama, Marja & Karvonen, Sakari & Kestilä, Laura & Moisio, Pasi & Muuri, Anu. Helsinki: Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-302-015-3

Miettinen, Mariella (2017). Vanhusten elämänlaatu ja siihen yhteydessä olevat tekijät vuosina 2004 ja 2013. Turku: Turun yliopisto. Sosiaalitieteiden laitos. Sosiaalipolitiikan kandidaatintutkielma.