“They’re always in a hurry” – Older people´s perceptions of access and recognition in health and social care services

The article examines older people's perceptions of quality of life from the perspective of access and use of health and social care services. The data include focus group discussions with older people living alone. The data were analysed using thematic analysis focusing on the older people's collective views on health and social care services as supportive or restrictive factors for their quality of life. Two central themes were present in all the focus group discussions: the importance of accessing services and information regarding the services, and need for recognition within the services/by the professionals. Both themes were connected to the older people's desire to maintain autonomy i…

The ecosocial paradigm in social work : Striving for planetary well-being

This chapter focuses on the concept of planetary well-being from the perspective of social work. Social work is a practice-oriented profession and academic discipline that takes many different forms globally. We present an outline of the emerging ecosocial paradigm in social work. This rather new approach attempts to adjust the profession’s core emphasis on social problems of and between human beings, shifting it to a position that puts humanity’s dependence on the natural environment at its centre. The chapter discusses the similarities between the ecosocial paradigm and the concept of planetary well-being. It further asks what added value the concept of planetary well-being might bring to…

Ecological Theories

Sosiaalityön tutkimus ja kuntien moninaiset tutkimuslupakäytännöt

Ecosocial Innovations as Part of Social and Solidarity Economy : Local Models for a Sustainable Development

Este artigo apresenta o conceito de inovacoes eco-sociais. Conceito que remete para as organizacoes locais ligadas a economia social e solidaria cuja intervencao nao deixa de atender aos desafios sociais e ecologicos, podendo ser vistos como modelos de sucesso na operacionalizacao da sustentabilidade. Baseado num estudo comparativo multi-caso internacional, a partir de uma abordagem do Servico Social, o artigo procura mostrar o trabalho desenvolvido nestas iniciativas, salientando a importância das mesmas. Entrevistas recolhidas junto dos atores locais em quatro paises permitiram identificar sete caracteristicas comuns as diferentes experiencias estudadas. Destaca-se a identificacao de um p…

The Changing Understanding of the ‘Person in Environment’ in Organizing Public Social Work Practice

“They're always in a hurry” : Older people's perceptions of access and recognition in health and social care services

The article examines older people's perceptions of quality of life from the perspective of access and use of health and social care services. The data include focus group discussions with older people living alone. The data were analysed using thematic analysis focusing on the older people's collective views on health and social care services as supportive or restrictive factors for their quality of life. Two central themes were present in all the focus group discussions: the importance of accessing services and information regarding the services, and need for recognition within the services/by the professionals. Both themes were connected to the older people's desire to maintain autonomy i…

The ecosocial approach in social work as a framework for structural social work

The article aims to deepen the understanding of structural social work from the point of view of the ecosocial framework. It analyses selected current international literature from the debate on the new wave of various interpretations of ecological social work. The debate shares four main themes: (a) a global perspective, (b) a critical view of professional social work, (c) a holistic ecosocial transition of society and (d) environmental and ecological justice. The ecosocial framework challenges structural social work to follow the principles of sustainable development and considers environmental issues as a crucial part of the goals and practical activities of structural social work.

The eco-social approach in social work

Combining labour market and unemployment policies with environmental sustainability? A cross-national study on ecosocial innovations

AbstractLabour market and unemployment policies in particular are rarely connected to issues of environmental sustainability. In the present article, the link is examined by focusing on ecosocial innovations in four European countries – Finland, Germany, Belgium and Italy. These innovations are small-scale associations, cooperatives or organizations that create new integrative practices combining both social and environmental goals. By asking how their social practices are linked with labour market and unemployment policies, we explore the scope for new ecosocial policies. The results of this cross-national case study lead to three lessons to be learnt for a future ecosocial welfare state: …

Effects of ‘participatory group-based care management´ on wellbeing of older people living alone : a randomized controlled trial

Background and objectives More knowledge is needed of the effectiveness of complex interventions that aim to promote the wellbeing of older people. This study examines the effects of ‘participatory group-based care management’ conducted among community-dwelling older adults living alone in Central and Eastern Finland. The intervention aimed to promote wellbeing and quality of life (QoL) using a needs-based and participatory approach. Methods The study was carried out as a randomized control trial (intervention group n = 185, control group n = 207). In this article, baseline and 6-month follow-up surveys were used. QoL (WHOQOL-Bref instrument), loneliness (Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale; sing…

Kestävää siirtymää edistäviä työn ja toimeentulon muotoja : analyysi kirjallisuudesta

Artikkelissa tarkastelemme kestävää siirtymää edistäviä työn ja toimeentulon vaihtoehtoja. Artikkeli perustuu kirjallisuuteen, joka sisältää ekososiaalista sosiaalipolitiikkaa, kestävää kehitystä, kestävää työtä sekä kestävää taloutta koskevia julkaisuja. Artikkelin tarkoituksena on yhdistää kestävän siirtymän hallinnan tutkimusta hyvinvointivaltioiden tulevaisuutta koskevaan keskusteluun. Kuvaamme kirjallisuudessa esitettyjä vaihtoehtoja siirtymän tutkimuksessa käytettävän monitasomallin näkökulmasta: jäsennämme vaihtoehtoja keskeisten käsitteiden ”toimintaympäristön”, ”hallintojärjestelmän” ja ”paikallisten innovaatioiden” (niché) avulla. Analyysin tuloksena kuvaamme, miten ansiotyötä laa…

Ecosocial Innovations and Their Capacity to Integrate Ecological, Economic and Social Sustainability Transition

The article contributes to sustainability transition research by indicating the significance of transformative grassroots innovations in the context of social work research. We introduce the integrative concept of ecosocial innovation in order to demonstrate how grassroots innovations can successfully combine social, ecological and economic aspects of a sustainability transition. By ecosocial innovations, we refer to social innovations with a strong ecological orientation (e.g., recycling workshops, urban gardening, participatory unemployment projects and new local economies). The data consists of 50 examples of ecosocial innovations in Finland, Italy, Germany, Belgium and the UK. We invest…

An eco-social approach to tackling social exclusion in European cities: A new comparative research project in progress

In this article we would like to introduce a three-year Research Project called 'New Local Policies against Social Exclusion in European Cities', financed by the Targeted Socio-Economic R ...

Transferable and Negotiated Knowledge

• Summary: This article explores the knowledge of community-based social workers in the context of an action research project aimed at exploring the practitioners’ own descriptions of their knowledge and expertise on the theme of spatial marginalization. • Findings: The knowledge of social workers seemed to be based on service users’ experiences and case examples, on value and moral constructions, and it was created from experience, by doing and in action. It was local and contextual, in some sense silent but shared through a discussion process. It was not based on empirically based scientific research understood in the traditional sense; rather, social workers resorted to practical knowle…

Ecosocial Innovations in Europe : How Social and Solidarity Economy Actors Can Promote the Sustainable Development Goals

This paper focuses on small-scale social and solidarity economy (SSE) actors for a transformation towards sustainable societies. These actors’ ecosocial innovations (ESIs) - for example, food cooperatives, reuse centres, and alternative mobility projects - successfully combine all dimensions of sustainability in new ecosocial practices. By inventing and establishing these practices on the local level, the ESIs promote Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8 on employment and decent work, and also strengthen the implementation of other goals. The empirical part of this paper is based on a Finnish social work research project that examines multiple ESIs in four different European countries. The …

The Promise and Deception of Participation in Welfare Services for Unemployed Young People

This study examined the role of welfare services in the participative citizenship of young people under 30 years of age outside the labour market. Thematic content analysis of the government’s white papers regarding participation policies, as well as participatory action research projects in two Finnish towns, were used to identify factors that enable or hinder participation for this group of service users. The paradigm of participation was critically examined with reference to the theoretical framework of Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno’s “dialectic of Enlightenment”, which proposes the parallel existence of the promise and the deception of Enlightenment. The results indicated that user …

Creating ‘Communities of Practice’ to Enhance Ecosocial Work : A Comparison between Finland and Australia

Abstract This article reports on findings from a small qualitative study in two industrialised countries—Finland and Australia, which aimed to engage social work practitioners in ‘communities of practice’ to collaboratively explore ecosocial work practice. Using a Participatory Action Research approach, a series of workshops were established to plan, implement and evaluate ecosocial work interventions. Data were gathered using qualitative pre- and post-surveys to examine changes to practice, including similarities and differences between Finnish and Australian practitioners. Overall, results indicated that practitioner engagement in the workshops increased their capacity to implement ecosoc…

Parempaa elämänlaatua osallistavalla otteella : kokemuksia PROMEQ-hankkeesta

Striving to strengthen the ecosocial framework in social work in Finland

AbstractThere is no economic or social sustainability without ecological sustainability, yet the latter can hardly be achieved without the other forms of sustainability. While contemporary consumer societies are still today fundamentally unsustainable, advancing the overall sustainability transition as well as mitigating and preventing the ecological crisis should be high on the social work and community development agendas. On one hand, this is because the ecological crisis both causes and increases social inequality and vulnerability. On the other hand, aspiring sustainability requires profound social and cultural changes, bringing about which belongs to social work and community work’s a…

Raising awareness of transformative ecosocial work: Participatory action research with Australian practitioners

Reflecting on Work Values with Young Unemployed Adults in Finland

In this article, we explore the internal conversations about the work values of young unemployed adults in Finland. We draw on the theoretical concept of internal conversation by Margaret Archer in order to shift the focus from the individual work values to the interplay between subjective concerns and structural circumstances. The data consist of six group interviews conducted among 29 young unemployed adults. We argue that the internal conversations on work values of young unemployed adults constitute five significant concerns: self-realization and opportunity to contribute to society; sufficient income to live independently; social expectations; challenges of finding employment; and unsu…

It is the Time for Social Work and Social Policy Research on the Ecosocial Transition

The eco-social approach in social work and the challenges to the expertise of social work

Sosiaalityöntekijät saavat työssään erityistä tietoa muun muassa asuinalueiden syrjäytymis- ja eheytymisprosesseista. He työskentelevät näköalapaikalla ja näkevät rakenteellisen muutoksen ja ihmisen selviytymisen välisiä monimutkaisia suhteita. Näin ollen heidän tietonsa voi syventää ymmärrystä ekososiaalisesti kestävistä paikallisista asuin- ja elinympäristöistä.Tämä selviää Kati Närhen väitöstutkimuksesta, jossa hän on tarkastellut suomalaisten aluesosiaalityöntekijöiden ekososiaalisen sosiaalityön rakentumista vuosina 1995–2000 Jyvässeudulla. Närhi tutki, millaista ekososiaalista sosiaalityötä aluesosiaalityöntekijät rakentavat jokapäiväisessä työssään toiminnan ja tiedonmuodostuksen vuo…

The Contribution of Social Work and Social Policy in Ecosocial Transition of Society