Study title

Experiences of People with Fatigue Syndrome in Applying for Social Security Benefits 2024

Dataset ID Number

FSD3857

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3857
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3857

Data Type

Qualitative

Authors

• Aaltonen, Heini (University of Helsinki)

Abstract

The data consists of writings in which people with fatigue syndrome talk about their experiences of applying for social security benefits. The data was originally collected for a Master's thesis in social work.

In the writing call, people with ME/CFS were asked to write about their experiences of applying for social security benefits if they had had difficulties in getting the benefit they had applied for or had been refused it. The call for contributions included a number of questions to help with the writing process. These provided the opportunity to describe, for example, how the difficulty or refusal of benefit has affected the respondent's life and well-being, the emotions that the situation has caused, or the support and help that the respondent has received from different sources in applying for benefit.

As background information, respondents were asked about their main source of income, the duration and severity of their illness, and whether they had a diagnosis of fatigue syndrome. The data were organised into an easy to use HTML version at FSD.

Keywords

diseases; fatigue (Physiology); medical diagnosis; social security

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Specific diseases, disorders and medical conditions (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Medication and treatment (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

• Aaltonen, Heini (University of Helsinki)

Collection Dates

2024-01-19 – 2024-02-19

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

People with fatigue syndrome who have claimed social security benefits for their illness.

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Availability

Collection Mode

Self-administered writings and/or diaries: Web-based (Penna textual data collection tool)

Research Instrument

Data collection guidelines: Self-administered writings guide

Data Files

31 writings in txt format. Additionally, the data were organised into an easy to use HTML version and a CSV version.

Data File Language

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

Qualitative data are available in their original language only and are not translated.

Data Version

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

At the end of one response, long sections of text were removed because the contained text had been previously published on the respondent's blog. In addition, four writings were deleted completely because they contained only text previously published on the respondent's blog.

A total of 39 responses were received to the survey, of which the author's permission to archive 36 was obtained. One writing was removed from the archived data, as the author forbidded to quote the text.

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

Aaltonen, Heini (University of Helsinki): Experiences of People with Fatigue Syndrome in Applying for Social Security Benefits 2024 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2024-09-12). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3857

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.

FSD has not been informed of any publications related to the data.