Study title

Occupational Well-being of Finnish Youth Workers 2021

Dataset ID Number

FSD3543

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3543

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Rauas, Minna (Nuoriso- ja Liikunta-alan asiantuntijat ry (NUOLI))

Abstract

The survey charted the occupational well-being and health of youth workers in Finland. The study was conducted by Nuoriso- ja Liikunta-alan asiantuntijat ry (NUOLI) in collaboration with Humak University of Applied Sciences and funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture.

First, the respondents were asked whether they thought they would be in the same or similar work tasks in a year, in five years and until they retired, as well as whether they had considered changing jobs or their field of work in the past year.

Next, the respondents' occupational well-being was examined with questions on, for example, how the respondents would rate their current well-being at work, whether they had experienced feelings of success or inadequacy in their work, and whether they had ever been in contact with a health professional because of work-related exhaustion. The respondents were also asked about their influence over their work tasks, the effect of their own personality and occupational identity on how they did their work, and their opportunities to participate in additional work-related training. Some questions focused on the respondents' workplace community and how the respondents perceived their community (e.g. whether the community provided them with peer support, there were power struggles within the community, work tasks were evenly distributed among co-workers, and the community held similar values). The respondents' opinions on management in their workplace was examined with questions on, for example, whether they received support from their superiors and whether their superiors were interested in their work.

The next questions surveyed the respondents' views on the objectives of their work, external demands regarding their work, and the structure of their work tasks. The respondents were also asked how various aspects of their work, such as job description, annual operational plans, and action plans for crisis situations, were documented at their workplace. Networking with people sharing the same profession as well as multidisciplinary networking were examined from the perspective of occupational well-being. Questions included, for example, whether the respondents thought the networks supported their own work and well-being at work and whether the challenges and needs of youth work were well understood within the multidisciplinary networks. Finally, the effect of social phenomena on the respondents' occupational well-being was surveyed. The respondents were asked, for example, whether the financing of their work created stress, whether using social media had negative effects on them, and whether the increase in remote work due to COVID-19 had increased or decreased their well-being. The respondents' views on how their clients (youth) affected their occupational well-being were also examined (e.g. whether they thought that they received mainly positive feedback from the young people they worked with or that they were not properly able to meet the youth's needs in their work).

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, level of education, employment history, type of job contract, type of employer, number of inhabitants in the municipality where their workplace was located, and job description.

Keywords

adolescents; job satisfaction; motivation; well-being (health); working conditions; workplace relations; youth work; youth workers

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Occupational health (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Working conditions (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

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

Data Collector

• Rauas, Minna (Nuoriso- ja Liikunta-alan asiantuntijat ry (NUOLI))

Time Period Covered

2021

Collection Dates

2021-02-09 – 2021-03-05

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Youth workers in mainland Finland

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Systematic random

The systematic random sample was drawn from a list of municipalities sorted by number of inhabitants, maintained by the Association of Finnish Municipalities. The invitation to participate and the survey were sent to one in three municipalities in Finland and directed at professional youth work organisations.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Semi-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

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

To prevent identification of respondents, the researcher removed the variable denoting the NUTS3 region where the respondent worked. Additionally, the researcher removed all mentions of municipality names.

Open-ended variables K12b_Muu, K13, K14a_Muu, K15, K23, K27, K31, K35, K38, K41, K44, K46 and K48 were removed from the data at FSD. All these variables are either of the type "other, please specify" or prompts to expand on the topic examined in the survey. All open-ended variables left in the data were anonymised so that the respondents or any third persons cannot be identified. Changes made at FSD were marked with [square brackets].

The data do not contain open-ended responses of the type "other, please specify" to variables K4 (matriculation examination/vocational upper secondary qualification), K5 (university of applied sciences degree), K6 (university of applied sciences master's degree), and K10 (type of employer). Additionally, open-ended responses to variable K11 denoting the nature of the respondent's youth work were removed from the data.

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

Rauas, Minna (Nuoriso- ja Liikunta-alan asiantuntijat ry (NUOLI)): Occupational Well-being of Finnish Youth Workers 2021 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2022-07-05). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3543

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 Publications

Rauas, Minna (2021): Riittämättömyyden tunteesta maailmanparantajaksi - työhyvinvointi nuorisotyössä. Humanistinen ammattikorkeakoulu julkaisuja, 127.

Huotari, Jere (2024) Hyvä johtaja, hyvinvoiva nuorisotyöntekijä? : Esihenkilötoiminnan yhteys nuorisotyöntekijöiden työhyvinvointiin ja työn imuun. Yhteiskuntatieteiden kandidaatintutkielma. Tampere: Tampereen yliopisto. https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202401101298