Search results for " social policy"
showing 10 items of 69 documents
Local childcare policy and the changing gender contract
2018
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the changes in local childcare policy that have taken place between the years 2008 and 2016 in the city of Jyväskylä, Finland, and to study how the local gender contract for women is being reshaped via these transformations in local policy. Design/methodology/approach Case study was applied as a research strategy. Local and national level statistics were used to explore the use of childcare services. Documents regarding the decision-making and administration of childcare in the city were analysed to distinguish the local policy changes during the time period. These documents include city budgets and records from the two municipal boards that …
Relationship between occupational and leisure-time physical activity and the need for recovery after work
2023
Abstract Background Health benefits of physical activity are very well acknowledged but the role of both occupational physical activity (OPA) and leisure time physical activity (LTPA) in recovery after work is not thoroughly understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between accelerometer-measured OPA and LTPA and the need for recovery after work (NFR) in early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals. Methods The study participants were 217 female ECEC professionals aged 17–64. Physical activity was recorded with a three-axis accelerometer (ActiGraph GT9X Link, ActiGraph, USA) for seven consecutive days. Separate analyses were conducted for both OPA a…
Aging well in the community: Understanding the complexities of older people's dial-a-ride bus journeys
2021
Older peoples' independent living in their own homes and their ability to move around and maintain social relations in their communities have been acknowledged as important aims to support their well-being. In this article, we study Special Transport Services as a means to support older persons with ‘aging in place’ – that is, within their communities. From “go-alongs” (shared dial-a-ride bus journeys) and “sit-down interviews” (at participant's home or a café) with 12 older people living in a Finnish suburb, we explored their everyday dial-a-ride bus trips to the local mall. We used actor-network theory and the concept of motility to show how at first glance what appeared to be simple dial…
LGBTIQ+ break-up assemblages : At the end of the rainbow
2020
This article explores Finnish LGBTIQ+ people’s break-ups. The long battle for equal rights has placed LGBTIQ+ people’s relationships under pressure to succeed. Previous studies argue that partners in LGBTIQ+ relationships try to appear as ordinary and happy as possible, and remain silent about the challenges they face in their relationships. Consequently, they may miss out on opportunities to receive institutional and familial support. This study aims to move beyond recurrent frameworks that take the similarity or difference between LGBTIQ+ relationships/break-ups and mixed-sex relationships as a predefined point of departure. The analysis draws on ethnographic observations of relationship …
Structure of self-rated health among the oldest old: Analyses in the total population and those living with dementia
2020
No previous study has explored the structure of self-rated health (SRH), a measure holding strong predictive value for future health events, in the oldest old or in individuals with dementia. The aim was to construct a structural equation model of SRH for oldest old in general and for oldest old with dementia, and to explore direct and indirect associations between health-related factors and SRH. Cross-sectional data from the Vitality 90+, a population-based study in the city of Tampere, Finland, was used. Data were gathered by a mailed questionnaire in 2014. Altogether 1299 nonagenarians, of which 408 had self-reported dementia or cognitive decline, were included. Structural equation model…
Embodied graffiti and street art research
2021
Graffiti and street art research (GSAR) has become more acknowledged within the academic discourse; however, it has much to gain from theorising its methodological aspects. As a multidisciplinary field, GSAR has mostly used qualitative research methods, exploring urban space through methods that range from visual recordings to ethnography, emphasising the researchers’ reflexivity. This qualitative approach has, however, paid little attention to the role of embodied practices. In this paper we discuss how embodied methodologies provide multisensory research results where the experienced moments, the participant’s and researcher’s senses, cognition and mobility in urban spaces are connected.…
Interactional means of teaming up: enacting the features of contemporary working life in a theater performance
2021
Abstract The article examines how the aspects of the social world are enacted in a theater play. The data come from a videotaped performance of a professional theater, portraying a story about a workplace organization going through a personnel training program. The aim of the study is to show how the core theme of the play – the teaming up of the personnel – is constructed in the live performance through a range of interactional means. By focusing on four core episodes of the play, the study on the one hand points out to the multiple changes taking place both within and between the different episodes of the play. On the other hand, the episodes of collective action involving the semiotic re…
Ideological, Institutional and Affective Practices of Interpersonal Violence
2020
The first chapter presents the book’s point of departure as well as its central concepts and structure. It outlines the current understandings of and theoretical approaches to the intersections of violence, gender and affect. The starting point is that gendered violence and violating practices are embedded in social structures of power and in inequalities, institutions, regimes and the symbolic order. They are manifested in human interaction as well as in cultural discourses and representations. The chapter also gives an overview of the abundant research and various perspectives involved in analysing the intersections of violence, gender and affect as well as the continuities and interconne…
The academic identity and boundaries of the discipline of social work : reflections of social work professors on the recruitment and research of doct…
2019
Finland has a strong and long tradition of research-oriented doctoral education in social work. Recent general changes in doctoral education, such as increased regulation, internationalisation and time pressures, have had an impact on social work as an academic discipline. This article examines the recruitment of social work doctoral students and the perceived value of doctoral dissertations as academic research. The data consist of written responses by Finnish full professors of social work to open-ended questions presented in an electronic questionnaire. The analysis is based on the idea of ‘boundary work’ within and between disciplines, and between science and society and on the professo…
At the Interface of National and Transnational: The Development of Finnish Policies against Domestic Violence in Terms of Gender Equality
2017
Although gender inequalities are the main social mechanisms behind the (re)production of domestic violence, policy responses to domestic violence as a gender-related problem vary at both the national and transnational levels. This article examines the interaction between national and transnational policies against domestic violence, focusing on how domestic violence is constructed as a gender-related problem in Finland, a Nordic welfare state that is often cited as a role model in gender equality. Using the conception of policies as historically changing and culturally specific discourses, this article offers an overview of the ways in which the perspective on domestic violence of the trans…