Study title

Quality and Effectiveness of Social Work: Group Interviews with Employees on Social Welfare Services 2024

Dataset ID Number

FSD3997

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3997
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3997

Data Type

Qualitative

Authors

• Puuronen, Anne (Pikassos Centre of Excellence on Social Welfare)
• Tuominen, Tuula (Pikassos Centre of Excellence on Social Welfare)
• Lindroos, Sanni (Pikassos Centre of Excellence on Social Welfare)
• Nyman, Katrina (Pikassos Centre of Excellence on Social Welfare)
• Taipale, Mikko (SONet BOTNIA Centre of Excellence on Social Welfare)

Abstract

The data explores the experiences of employees working in social welfare services for working-age adults, families with children, and older people. It focuses on how these professionals perceive the quality and effectiveness of social welfare services in their daily work. The data was collected as part of the SULAVA project, which studied the quality and effectiveness of social welfare services in the Inland Finland collaborative area in 2024-2025.

First, participants were asked how they define high-quality and effective social welfare services, and how they are able to implement these principles in their own work. The interviews also explored how the operational culture of their units influences the quality of work. The next section examined the guidance and instructions used in practice, their perceived significance, the utilisation of research-based practices, and the role of cost-effectiveness in everyday work. Participants were also asked about the impacts of the wellbeing services county reform on the quality of work and on clients' life situations. Finally, the interviews addressed themes related to national-level steering, including how legislation and regulatory guidance shape the quality and effectiveness of social welfare work.

Background information includes the interviewee's gender, occupational title, years of work experience in the social welfare sector, wellbeing services county, and working area within social welfare services.

Keywords

counsellors; customer service; employees; legislation; social services; social welfare; social work; social workers

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Working conditions (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Specific social services: use and availability (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (D) available only by permission from the data depositor/creator.

Data Collector

• Lindroos, Sanni (Pikassos Centre of Excellence on Social Welfare)
• Nyman, Katrina (Pikassos Centre of Excellence on Social Welfare)
• Taipale, Mikko (SONet BOTNIA Centre of Excellence on Social Welfare)

Funders

• European Union. NextGenerationEU (VN/29599/2023)

Time Period Covered

2024

Collection Dates

2024-10-02 – 2024-12-13

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland, Inland Finland collaborative area

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Employees working in social work services for working-age people, families with children, and older people in the Inland Finland collaborative area

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Availability

Non-probability: Respondent-assisted

Social workers and social counsellors were reached through email messages and intranet news within the wellbeing services counties in late 2024. A total of 15 employees signed up for the group interviews. To ensure that each group interview would have at least three participants, some of those who had expressed their interest in participating were asked to invite their colleagues to join. Due to absences, some of the interviews were ultimately conducted as individual interviews.

Collection Mode

Web-based interview

Research Instrument

Interview scheme and/or themes

Data Files

7 interview transcripts in odt format. The data were organised into an easy to use HTML version and includes also 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

Related Datasets

FSD3996 Quality and Effectiveness of Social Work: Client Interviews on Social Welfare Services 2024-2025

FSD3998 Quality and Effectiveness of Social Work: Peer Reflection Discussions of Research Social Workers 2024-2025

FSD4008 Quality and Effectiveness of Social Work: Working-Age Client Survey 2024-2025

FSD4009 Quality and Effectiveness of Social Work: Client-Employee Discussions 2025

FSD4010 Quality and Effectiveness of Social Work: Client Survey for Families with Children 2025

FSD4018 Quality and Effectiveness of Social Work: Employee Survey 2024

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The researchers have anonymised the data by removing or categorising individuals' names, wellbeing services counties and municipalities, service and organisation names, and information related to work history.

For anonymisation purposes, information referring to the wellbeing services counties was removed from the data, and information relating to work history and the work community was also coarsened at FSD. Changes made at FSD are marked with [[double square brackets]].

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

Puuronen, Anne (Pikassos Centre of Excellence on Social Welfare) & Tuominen, Tuula (Pikassos Centre of Excellence on Social Welfare) & Lindroos, Sanni (Pikassos Centre of Excellence on Social Welfare) & Nyman, Katrina (Pikassos Centre of Excellence on Social Welfare) & Taipale, Mikko (SONet BOTNIA Centre of Excellence on Social Welfare): Quality and Effectiveness of Social Work: Group Interviews with Employees on Social Welfare Services 2024 [dataset]. Data version 1.0 (2026-01-30). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3997; URN: https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3997

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Special Terms and Conditions for Access

The application procedure differs from the one normally used for data archived at FSD and has two stages. The applicant needs to submit separate applications to both FSD and the Wellbeing Services County of Pirkanmaa (Pirha).
The application to Pirha - for a university-level thesis or research project - is completed through the Researcher’s Digital Service Portal: https://www.pirha.fi/ammattilaiselle/tutkimus. Please note that the portal and the related webpage are available only in Finnish. Applicants who do not speak Finnish are advised to contact Pirha’s research coordinators directly for assistance: pirhatutkimus@pirha.fi. A preliminary research plan must be attached to the application.
Pirha will inform FSD of its decision. Once the decision has been made, FSD User Services will notify the applicant whether permission to download the data has been granted.

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.