Study title

Substance Use Related Cases in Social and Health Services 2019

Alternative Title

Survey of Intoxicant-related Cases 2019

Dataset ID Number

FSD3444

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3444

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

Abstract

The survey charted substance use related cases in social and health services on the second Tuesday of October in 2019. Professionals in social and health services recorded information on every client or patient who used the services on that day while intoxicated or because of some harm, such as an injury, relating to substance use, or were assessed by an employee to be a substance abuser. In 2019, information was collected from prisons and community sanctions offices in addition to social welfare and health care facilities.

First, the client's intoxication was surveyed. If the client visited outpatient care, whether they had made an appointment before coming to the facility was charted. For inpatient care clients, the length of their continuous treatment at the time of data collection was charted. The daily use of products containing nicotine (e.g. cigarettes, snuff) and the substances the client had used in the past 12 months (e.g. alcohol, cannabis, cocaine) were examined. The client's simultaneous polydrug use (the simultaneous or concurrent use of two or more substances within a short time period) and whether they had ever during their life injected drugs were also surveyed.

Next, the client's primary reason for using social and health services (e.g. injury, withdrawal symptoms, substance abuse problems) and the services provided to the client (e.g. helping with life management problems, intervention, detoxication) were surveyed. The occurrence of threatening or violent behaviour by the client in the facility was also examined, and mental health problems unrelated to substance use as well as gambling problems were charted.

Background variables included, among others, the collection mode of the questionnaire, location and region (NUTS3) of the facility as well as type and sector of the facility and the language primarily used in the facility. Additionally, background variables included the client's gender, country of birth, location and region (NUTS3) of residence, marital status, age group, economic activity and occupational status, housing tenure and whether they had children under 18 years of age. Finally, information on whether the questionnaire was filled out in a Criminal Sanctions Agency facility or in a social welfare or health care facility was included.

Keywords

drug abuse; health services; social problems; social services; substance use

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Medical and health sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Drug abuse, alcohol and smoking (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Specific social services: use and availability (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• General health and well-being (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Substance Use Related Cases in Social and Health Services

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

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

Data Collector

• Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

Time Period Covered

2019

Collection Dates

2019-10-08

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Clients or patients who used social or health services in social welfare and health care facilities, prisons and community sanctions offices during the specified day of data collection (the second Tuesday of October) while intoxicated or because of some harm, such as an injury, relating to substance use, or were assessed by an employee to be a substance abuser

Time Method

Longitudinal: Cohort/Event-based

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

The questionnaire was sent to social welfare and health care facilities, prisons and community sanctions offices for which address information was available. Additionally, address information was collected from different registers, health care districts, the largest municipalities and other service providers (such as A-kilta associations that provide peer support to recovering substance addicts). The final database contained information on 8,321 facilities. The questionnaire was filled out by those social and health service employees who encountered clients or patients that fulfilled the criteria during the specified day of data collection. The information was collected in cooperation with the client/patient.

Collection Mode

Face-to-face interview: Paper-and-pencil (PAPI)

Face-to-face interview: Computer-assisted (CAPI/CAMI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

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

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The data contain response options added by the researcher that were not included in the questionnaire.

To prevent identification of individuals, the client's year of birth and municipality of residence have been removed from the data. Variable [ika] denoting the age group of the client was categorised into five-year groups at FSD, and in variable [syntmaa1] denoting the client's country of birth, all other countries apart from Finland have been combined into the category "Other country". Responses indicating the municipality where the facility was located and the client's municipality of residence were classified at FSD, resulting in variables [ykskuno] and [askuno] denoting the location of the facility and the client's residence in the 11 largest municipalities in Finland. Other variables, such as various regional variables (e.g. NUTS3 regions of the facility's location and client's residence), were categorised by the researcher. Additionally, open-ended responses to the following variables were removed: type of facility, client's country of birth, housing tenure, primary reason for using the social and health services, the services provided to the client, and mental health problems unrelated to substance use. The open-ended responses left in the data were reviewed and responses containing direct or indirect identifiers were removed.

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 Institute for Health and Welfare: Substance Use Related Cases in Social and Health Services 2019 [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2020-10-08). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3444

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

Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos (2020). Päihdetapauslaskenta. https://thl.fi/fi/tutkimus-ja-kehittaminen/tutkimukset-ja-hankkeet/paihdetapauslaskenta. [viitattu 17.6.2020].

Related Publications

Seppälä, Mire (2022). Päihdetaakan jakautuminen Kymenlaakson sosiaali- ja terveyspalveluissa 2000-2019. Itä-Suomen yliopisto, Yhteiskuntatieteiden ja kauppatieteiden tiedekunta, Yhteiskuntatieteiden laitos. Sosiaalityön pro gradu -tutkielma. http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:uef-20220737