Diaconia Barometers map the opinions and experiences of the diaconal workers on topical themes related to diaconal work. Main themes include the contents, priorities, resources and partnerships of the diaconal work, as well as the job description of the diaconal workers.
The surveys have been conducted regularly since 1999. Barometers have been carried out by, among others, Diakonian tutkimuksen seura (Finnish Society for Diaconal Research), Diakoniatyöntekijöiden liitto DTL (Diaconal Workers' Association), and the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. FSD collections cover data from 2009 onwards.
Diaconia Barometers chart Finnish diaconal workers' experiences of their work and views of current topics in diaconia. The topics of the 2018 survey included the communications and engagement of diaconal work, everyday diaconal work and its challenges, and the Christian orientation of diaconal workers. The survey was funded by the Church Research Institute.
The respondents were first asked questions about diaconal communications. These charted who was responsible for communications in the parish, what kind of channels were used in communications, whether the parish had a communications plan, and how the parish engaged with different people and organisations in terms of diaconal work. The effect of digitalisation on diaconal work was surveyed with questions about the use of different digital tools.
A number of questions concerning everyday diaconal work were asked including, for example, what kind of people the respondents encountered in their work (e.g. persons who have to resort to food aid continuously, elderly people with memory loss, undocumented immigrants), how much time they spent on different tasks and what proportion of their tasks they regarded as diaconal work. The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with statements relating to diaconal work in a changing society and church. Another set of questions charted things that increased workload, support received from various resources and satisfaction with supervision. The respondents were also asked who was responsible for different tasks in their parish. The number of applicants to vacancies in diaconal work in the parish in 2017 were charted as well as the number of vacancies at the time of the survey.
The Christian orientation of the respondents and their work community was surveyed by asking whether they believed in the triune God, in which Christian practices they participated (e.g. prayer, worship service, Eucharist), how Christianity was visible in their work and at the workplace (e.g. offering to pray for or with a client, reading the Bible with a client, values of the work community aligned with personal values).
Background variables included the number of inhabitants in the municipality of the respondent's workplace, the respondent's age, educational background, gender, work experience in the field, and diocese.
The survey was sent to 1,164 diaconal workers via the mailing registry of the Church Council. The list was the most comprehensive available, but it also contained people who were not in a diaconal position at the time and not all diaconal workers received the link. The link was also distributed on the social media channels of the organisations conducting the survey, in the electronic newsletters of the Association of Diaconal Workers and through the researchers' personal contacts. Two reminders were sent via email and on the social media channels. After removing one duplicate, there were 390 respondents.