Authors

• Virrankari, Lotta (University of Helsinki. Faculty of Social Sciences)

Keywords

chronic illness, freedom, injuries, physical disabilities, physical mobility, quality of life

Abstract

This dataset studied notions that disabled or chronically ill people in Finland had concerning freedom. The study aimed to find out how a possible illness or disability affected feelings and experiences with regard to freedom in life. The data contain 11 transcribed interviews. The study was funded by the Sokra project of the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) to coordinate the promotion of social inclusion.

In the data, the interviewees shared how their disability or illness affected their everyday lives. They were asked what sort of meanings the interviewees gave to freedom and whether they considered their lives to have freedom. The interviews also discussed, for instance, whether the disability or illness had set limitations or challenges on the participants' lives, future plans or dreams. In addition, experiences were discussed regarding, for instance, schools, health care services and other institutions, and receiving sufficient support and assistance. Additionally, topics covered services, peer support, feelings of being heard, and friends and relatives' attitudes toward getting a diagnosis.

Background information included date, gender, age and the illness/disability in question (e.g. epilepsy, cerebral palsy). The data were organised into an HTML index at FSD.

The dataset is only available in Finnish.