128 resultados para Elm.
Resumo:
On a journey from marginal to mainstream? The lifestyle and recovery of former drug users This thesis studies the lifestyle and recovery of former users of illicit drugs through their experiences. The study describes the life of people with drug problems both during the time they used drugs regularly and after they stopped the use entirely. The focus is on the development of the lifestyle of 32 persons who no longer use drugs. They may have stopped using drugs independently or with the help of a treatment. In this study, persons who have given up drug use with the help of a psychosocially oriented treatment are called non-medicinally treated former users (n=19) whereas opioid addicts who have stopped using drugs through substitution treatment are referred to as substitution treatment patients (n=13). The research material was gathered from theme interviews. The criteria for the focus group of the study included the following: a) the interviewees had had a serious drug problem in their past; b) they had not used drugs for at least one year prior to the interview; c) they were not in an institutional care at the time of the study. This thesis is basically a lifestyle study in which the aspects of lifestyle are used to describe the everyday life of former drug users. The study reviews the whole spectrum of everyday routines, especially the social interaction and subjective experiences of people. The second concept used in this study is recovery, which is described as a process that starts from the abstinence from substances and adoption of the recovery culture and continues as a comprehensive change of the lifestyle, identity and values of an individual. Disengaging from a drug-oriented lifestyle and connected social network as well as finding an individual frame of reference is a demanding process. Years of drug use have often caused complex health and social disadvantages as well as problems with work, education, livelihood, accommodation and human relationships. The effect of the past on the present arises at all levels. The interviews revealed a recovery culture maintaining the lifestyle as well as an adaptive and optimistic approach to the future among those participating in the study. The study shows that an adequate distance from acute substance use is a precondition for the beginning of the recovery process, yet abstinence in itself tells nothing about the actual recovery. The study describes how some recovering users find a meaning in life easily whereas others have to work actively for their recovery. Detaching oneself from the feeling of adopted abnormality connected with substance addiction forms an important basis for satisfying abstinence. Peer groups support the development of counter-cultures and abstinence or the support is received from the community formed in the substitution treatment clinic.
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The goal of the study is to build an image of deafness and of the lives of the deaf from their own per-spectives. The lives of deaf sign language users are analysed through the concept of identity. The start-ing point for the study is the idea that identities are moulded and structured in action and interaction and are, therefore, continuous processes. The terminology and ideas used in the present study are mostly based on Erving Goffman s (1971, 1986) work in which he sees identity as a representation of self. Via our language and our actions we build and present an image of ourselves to others and to ourselves alike. The research aims at answering the following questions concerning the lives of deaf sign language users: how do deaf people build an image of themselves as deaf people, what kind of meanings does deafness acquire in their lives, and what opportunities do they have to be perceived by others as they feel they are, i.e. to present their true self . In order to answer these questions, the narratives provided by eighteen deaf young adults, aged 25 35, in narrative interviews carried out in sign language, have been analysed. The methodology used is that of a data-based, qualitative analysis and narrative analy-sis. The study follows the lines of prior qualitative research carried out in the field of sociology of health and in the study of everyday life. The subjects are divided into three groups according to the linguistic environment dominant in the family: 1) a deaf child in a deaf family, 2) a deaf child in a hearing family using sign language, and 3) a deaf child in a hearing family where sign language was not used. The childhood family has great significance in the way a child constructs his or her identity as a deaf person. The process of construct-ing an identity in the first group can be defined as being automatic or inherited, in the second group the process can be described as being a collective/joint identity-building process, whereas in the third group the process is ambivalent and delayed. The opportunities the deaf have in building their identi-ties as deaf people have been examined through the concept of a collective story reservoir. Research shows that the deaf have, at least partly, a different collective story reservoir that they can rely on from the one the hearing have. Interaction with other deaf people and access to the collective story reservoir is important, because it enables the deaf to form an idea of their own deafness and the life of a deaf person. Three different ways of understanding deafness can be conceptualized from the narratives of the inter-viewed deaf people. In the outdated counter-narrative and the reductive narrative of deafness as an abnormality, the subjects are not capable of seeing themselves as forming part of the narratives or identifying themselves with the ways the deaf are depicted. Yet, the characterizations prevalent in them are the ones that the deaf constantly come across in their day-to-day lives. The narrative through which the subjects depict themselves and their lives can be defined as a pluralistic narrative. The plu-ralistic narrative consists of three elements: the coexistence of the world of the deaf and that of the hearing, the orientation to sign language, and the replacement of local networks with global networks. Although modern Finnish society and its varied social services and subsidy systems enable the realiza-tion of the kind of life described in the pluralistic narrative, the issues of power and inequality still frequently emerge in the narratives in which the deaf young adults described themselves and their lives. Two kinds of power mechanisms can be perceived in the descriptions: belittling and excluding power. These considerably diminish the opportunities of sign language users to create the kind of life that would reflect their personalities while limiting the chances for presenting the self to others.
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The subjects of this study are Narcotics Anonymous (NA), a non-profit, peer-support-based fellowship, its recovery programme, and the former drug addicts who consider themselves members of the fellowship. The study data consist of episodic interviews (n=24) and questionnaires (n=212). In the collection of questionnaire data, survey research methods had to be applied judiciously. This study analyses NA members background and their substance abuse and treatment history, as well as factors that have contributed to or hindered their bonding with NA. A recovery model is presented that stems from NA s written and oral tradition, and which has been conceptualised into NA s recovery theory. At its simplest, NA s recovery theory can be described in two sentences: 1) There are drug dependent addicts who have an addiction disease. 2) Through an NA way of life, recovery is possible. In this study, addiction and addiction disease are described through recovery stories shared at NA. It also describes how the way of life offered by NA supports recovery from drug addiction, the way of life which recovering addicts have adopted, and how they have done so. The study also presents results that, based on the study data, emerge from participation in the NA programme, and describes how the NA recovery theory works in practice, i.e. how NA members utilise the tools provided by the fellowship and how the lives of recovering addicts change during their membership. Furthermore, this study also discusses criticism of NA. According to the study, NA affects the lives of recovering drug addicts in a number of ways. People of different ages and with a variety of personal, treatment and drug abuse histories seem to benefit from membership of NA. Viewed from the outside, NA may appear as strictly normative, but in practice each member can adapt the programme in a way that suits him/her best. Indeed, flexibility is one of the strengths of NA, but without more extensive knowledge of the fellowship, it is possible that the norms reflected in NA texts or the fanaticism of individual NA members may drive some people away. Due to the increasing number of NA members, the association is also able to provide more alternatives. This study confirms the view that peer support is important, as well as the fact that an official treatment system is required in parallel with peer support activities. NA can never fully replace professional support, neither should it be left with sole responsibility for recovering addicts. Keywords: Narcotics Anonymous, peer support, recovery study, recovery, substance addiction, drug treatment, drugs, explorative research
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Women and Marital Breakdown in South India: Reconstructing Homes, Bonds and Persons is an ethnographic analysis of the situation of divorced and separated women and their families in the South Indian city of Bangalore. The study is based on 16 months of anthropological fieldwork, i.e., participant observation and life history interviews among 50 divorced and separated women from different socio-religious backgrounds in their homes, in the women s organisations and in the Family Court. The study follows the divorced and separated women from their natal homes to their affinal homes through homelessness and legal battles to their reconstructed natal, affinal or single homes in order to find out what it means to be a person within hierarchical gender and kinship relations in South India. Marital breakdown impacts on kin relations and discloses the existing gender relations and power structure through its consequences. It makes the transformability of relational personhood as well as the transformability of relational society and culture visible. Although the study reveals the painful history of women s ill-treatment in marriage, family and kinship systems, it also demonstrates the women s rejection of the domination; and shows their ability to re-negotiate and promote changes not only to their own positions but to the whole hierarchical system as well. The study explores the divorced and separated women s manifold dilemmas, complicated legal battles, and endless arrangements when they have to struggle with the very practical problems of supporting themselves financially, finding and making a new home for themselves, and re-arranging relationships with their kin and friends. As marital breakdown fundamentally transforms the women s relational field, it forces them to recreate substitutive relations in a flexible way and, simultaneously, to re-construct themselves and their lives without a ready or positive cultural or behavioural template. This process reveals the agency of the divorced and separated women as well as shedding light on issues of gender and the cultural construction of the person in South India. This topical study explores the previously neglected subject of marital breakdown in India and shows the new meaning of kinship in South India.
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Body: The foundation for the formation of the knowledge and conception of gender identity among the transgendered The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of the experiential formation of the knowledge and conception of one's gender and the foundation of that experience. This study is based on qualitative method and phenomenological approach. The research material consists: Herculine Barbin's Herculine Barbin, Christine Jorgensen's Christine Jorgensen. A Personal Autobiography Kate Bornstein's Gender Outlaw and Deirdre McCloskey's Crossing. A Memoir. The theoretical frame of reference for the study is Michel Henry's phenomenology of the body. The most important relations regarding the formation of the knowledge and conception of gender identity at which the sensing of the body is directed are human being's own subjective, organic and objective bodily form and other people and representatives of institutions. The concept of resistance reveals that gender division and the stereotypes and accountability related to it have dual character in culture. As a resistance they contain the potential for triggering the reflections about one's own gender. As an instrument they may function as means of exercising power and, as such, of monitoring gender normality. According to the research material the sources for the knowledge and conception of gender identity among the transgendered are literature, medical articles and books, internet, clerical and medical professionals, friends and relatives, and the peer group, that is, other transgendered. The transgendered are not only users of gender knowledge, but many of them are also active producers and contributors of gender knowledge and especially of knowledge about transgenderness. The problem is that this knowledge is unevenly distributed in society. The users of gender knowledge are mainly the transgendered, researchers of different disciplines specialized in gender issues, and medical and healthcare professionals specialized in gender adjustments. Therefore not everyone has the sufficient knowledge to support one's own or someone other's life as a gendered being in a society and ability to achieve gender autonomy. The quality of this knowledge is also rather narrow from the gender multiplicity point of view. The feeling of strangeness and the resulting experience of enstrangement have, like stereotypes, dual character in culture. They may be the reason for people's social disadvantage or exclusion, but the experiences may just as well be a resource for people's gender maturity and culture. As a cultural resource in gender issue this would mean innovativity in creating, upholding and changing cultural gender division, stereotypes and accounting customs. A transgendered may then become a liminal that aspires to change the limits related to resistances in society. Transgenderness is not only a medical issue but, first and foremost, an issue bearing upon human situation as a whole, or, in other words, related to the art of life. The subject of gender adjustment treatments is not only gender itself but the art of life as a gendered being. Transgenderness would then require multi-discipline co-operation.
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Tutkimuksen tehtävänä on tuottaa tietoa huostaanotetun lapsen vanhemman vanhemmuudesta. Tutkimuskysymykset ovat: Millaisena vanhemmuus näyttäytyy huostaanottoasiakirjoissa? Miten vanhemmuuden eri lajit näyttäytyvät huostaanottoasiakirjoissa? Miten vanhemman rooli huoltajana ja kasvattajana näyttäytyy huostaanottoasiakirjoissa? Tutkimuksen näkökulmana on vanhemman kuntoutumisprosessi. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu lastensuojelun sosiaalityöntekijöiden dokumentoiduista asiakirjoista 5 huostaanotetun lapsen ja 5 vanhemman osalta vuosilta 2003-2010: kiireelliset sijoitus- ja huostaanottopäätökset sekä asiakassuunnitelmat ja asiakaskertomukset. Tutkimus kuuluu hermeneuttiseen tutkimusperinteeseen. Vanhemmat nähdään holistisen ihmiskäsityksen kautta. Huostaanoton kohdanneen vanhemman vanhemmuus ymmärretään osana vanhemman elämää, hänen merkitystensä ja kokemustensa kokonaisuutta. Tutkimustapana on tapaustutkimus. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen viitekehys rakentuu lastensuojelulaista, lastensuojelun dokumentoinnista ja vanhemmuuden teorioista: vanhemmuuden lajit, kasvattajan yleiset periaatteet ja vanhemmuuden roolikartta. Aineiston analyysi on toteutettu sisällönanalyysilla, teemoitteluun perustuen. Tapaustutkimuksena tutkimus keskittyy vanhemmuuden kokonaisvaltaiseen kuvaukseen tietyn huostaanoton kontekstissa. Huostaanotot edustavat tutkimuksessa tyypillistä, ainutlaatuista ja äärimmäistä tapausta niissä ilmenevän vanhemmuuden perusteella. Vanhemmuus näyttäytyi asiakirjoissa seuraavien teemojen kautta: riippuvuus, tuen ja hoidon tarve, kontrolli, elämän vuoristorata ja kohti kuntoutusta. Vanhemmuuden lajeista näyttäytyi jaettu vanhemmmuus etupäässä seuraavien teemojen kautta: yhteistyökykyisyys ja -kyvyttömyys, yhteydenpito lapseen, tapaamisista sopiminen ja tapaamisten toteutuminen sekä sijaishuollon arvostelu ja arvostaminen. Vanhemmuuden rooleista näyttäytyivät huoltajan, rajojen asettajan, rakkauden antajan, elämän opettajan sekä ihmissuhdeosaajan roolit tehtävineen. Lastensuojelun sosiaalityön ydin on lapsen etu: vanhemman hoitomyönteisyys ja yhteistyökykyisyys.Tutkimustuloksia voidaan hyödyntää huostaanotettujen lasten vanhempien kanssa työskentelyssä ja uusien työkäytäntöjen kehittämisessä
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The subject matter of this study is the cultural knowledge concerning romantic male-female relationships in autobiographies written by so called ordinary Finnish men and women born between 1901 and 1965. The research data (98 autobiographies) is selected from two collections by the Finnish Literature Society s folklore archives in the early 1990 s. Autobiographies are cultural representations where negotiation of shared cultural models and personal meanings given to hetero-relationship is evident in an interesting manner. In this research I analyze autobiographies as a written folklore genre. Information concerning male-female relationships is being analyzed using theoretically informed close readings thematic analysis, intertextual reading and reflexive reading. Theoretical implications stem from cognitive anthropology (the idea of cultural models) and an adaptation of discourse theory inspired by Michel Foucault. The structure of the analysis follows the structure of the shared knowledge concerning romantic male-female relationship: the first phase of analysis presents the script of a hetero-relationship and then moves into the actual structure, the cultural model of a relationship. The components of the model of relationship are, as mentioned in the title of the research, woman, man, love and sex. The research shows that all the writers share this basic knowledge concerning a heterosexual relationship despite their age, background or gender. Also the conflicts described and experienced in the relationships of the writers were similar throughout the timespan of the early 1900 s to 1990 s: lack of love, inability to reconcile sexual desires, housework, sharing the responsibility of childcare and financial problems. The research claims that the conflicts in relationships are a major cause for the binary view on gender. When relationships are harmonious, there seems to be no need to see men and women as opposites. The research names five important discourses present in the meaning giving processes of autobiographers. In doing so, the stabile cultural model of male-female relationship widens to show the complexity and variation in data. In this way it is possible to detect some age and gender specific shifts and emphasis. The discourses give meaning to the components of the cultural model and determine the contents of womanhood, manhood, sexuality and love. The way these discourses are spread and their authority are different: the romantic discourse evident in the autobiographies appeal to the authority of love supreme love is the purpose of male-female relationship and it justifies sexuality. In this discourse sex can be the place for confluence of genders. The ideas of romantic love are widely spread in popular culture. Popular scientific discourse defines a relationship as a site to become a man and a woman either from a psychological or a biological point of view. Genders are seen as opposites. These ideas are often presented in media and their authority in science which is seen as infallible. The Christian discourse defines men and women: both should work for the benefit of the nuclear family under the undisputed authority of God. Marital love is based on Christian virtues and within marriage sexuality is acceptable. The discourse I ve named folk tradition defines women and men as guardians of home and offspring. The authority of folk tradition comes from universal truth based in experience and truths known to the mediators of this discourse grandparents, parents and other elders or peers. Societal discourse defines the hetero relationship as the mainstay of society. The authority in societal discourse stems from the laws and regulations that control relationship practices.
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Since the second half of the 20th century, cancer has become a dominant disease in Western countries, endangering people regardless of age, gender, race or social status. Every year almost eight million people die of cancer worldwide. In Finland every fourth person is expected to fall ill with cancer at some stage of his or her life. During the 20th century, along with rapid changes in the medical system, people s awareness of cancer has increased a great deal. This has also influenced the image of cancer in popular discourse over the past decades. However, from the scientific point of view there is still much that is unclear about the disease. This thesis shows that this is a big problem for ordinary people, as, according to culture-bound illness ideology, people need an explanation about the origin of their illness in order to help them cope. The main aim of this thesis is to examine the process of being ill with cancer from the patient s point of view, in order to analyse attitudes and behaviour towards cancer and its significance and culture-bound images. This narrative-based study concentrates on patients voicings , which are important in understanding the cancer experience and when attempting to make it more open within current cultural and societal settings. The Kun sairastuin syöpään ( when I fell ill with cancer ) writing competition organised by Suomen Syöpäpotilaat ry (the Finnish Cancer Patients Association), Suomen Syöpäyhdistys ry (the Finnish Cancer Union), and Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran kansanrunousarkisto (the Finnish Literary Society Folklore Archive) was announced on the 1st of May 1994 and lasted until the 30th of September 1994. As a result, a total of 672 cancer narratives, totalling 6384 pages, were received, filled with experiences relating to cancer. Written cancer narratives form a body of empirical data that is suitable for content or textual analysis. In this thesis, content analysis is adopted in order to become familiar with the texts and to preselect the themes and analytical units for further examination. I use multiple perspectives in order to interpret cancer patients ideas and reasoning. The ethnomedical approach unites popular health beliefs that originated in Finnish folk medicine, as well as connecting alternative medicine, which patients make use of, with biomedicine, the dominant form of medicine today. In addition to this, patients narratives, which are composed of various structural segments, are approached from the folklorist s perspective. In this way they can be seen as short pathographies, reconstructions of self-negotiation and individual decision making during the illness process. Above all, cancer patients writing describe their feelings, thoughts and experiences. Factors that appear insignificant to modern medicine, overwhelmed as it is by medical technologies that concentrate on dysfunctional tissue within diseased bodies. Ethnomedical study of cancer patients writings gives access to the human side of cancer discourse, and combines both medical, and popular, knowledge of cancer. In my view, the natural world and glimpses of tradition are bound together with one general aim within cancer narratives: to tackle the illness and mediate its meanings. Furthermore, the narrative approach reveals that participants write with the hope of offering a different interpretation of the cancer experience, and thus of confronting culturally pre-defined images and ideologies.
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Migraine is the common cause of chronic episodic headache, affecting 12%-15% of the Caucasian population (41 million Europeans and some half a million Finns), and causes considerable loss of quality of life to its sufferers, as well as being linked to increased risk for a wide range of conditions, from depression to stroke. Migraine is the 19th most severe disease in terms of disability-adjusted life years, and 9th among women. It is characterized by attacks of headache accompanied by sensitivity to external stimuli lasting 4-72 hours, and in a third of cases by neurological aura symptoms, such as loss of vision, speech or muscle function. The underlying pathophysiology, including what triggers migraine attacks and why they occur in the first place, is largely unknown. The aim of this study was to identify genetic factors associated with the hereditary susceptibility to migraine, in order to gain a better understanding of migraine mechanisms. In this thesis, we report the results of genetic linkage and association analyses on a Finnish migraine patient collection as well as migraineurs from Australia, Denmark, Germany, Iceland and the Netherlands. Altogether we studied genetic information of nearly 7,000 migraine patients and over 50,000 population-matched controls. We also developed a new migraine analysis method called the trait component analysis, which is based on individual patient responses instead of the clinical diagnosis. Using this method, we detected a number of new genetic loci for migraine, including on chromosome 17p13 (HLOD 4.65) and 10q22-q23 (female-specific HLOD 7.68) with significant evidence of linkage, along with five other loci (2p12, 8q12, 4q28-q31, 18q12-q22, and Xp22) detected with suggestive evidence of linkage. The 10q22-q23 locus was the first genetic finding in migraine to show linkage to the same locus and markers in multiple populations, with consistent detection in six different scans. Traditionally, ion channels have been thought to play a role in migraine susceptibility, but we were able to exclude any significant role for common variants in a candidate gene study of 155 ion transport genes. This was followed up by the first genome-wide association study in migraine, conducted on 2,748 migraine patients and 10,747 matched controls followed by a replication in 3,209 patients and 40,062 controls. In this study, we found interesting results with genome-wide significance, providing targets for future genetic and functional studies. Overall, we found several promising genetic loci for migraine providing a promising base for future studies in migraine.
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ABSTRACT Sense of coherence (SOC) is a core concept within Antonovsky s salutogenic theory and is argued to be a psychological determinant of health. The present social-epidemiological study explores the associations between a wide range of generalized resistance resources of SOC among Finnish- and Swedish-speaking women and men with a view to gaining deeper insight into its developmental circumstances and determinants. Secondly, a five-year follow-up study was conducted in order to assess the stability of SOC in difficult life events. Finally the role and effect of SOC in the intentions to retire early was investigated in a prospective study. The above studies were based on two data sets: the Finnish 'Survey on Living Conditions' (ELO-94) conducted in 1994 by means of personal face-to-face interviews (N=6506), and a prospective postal survey of the 15-year Health and Social Support (HeSSup) study for which the baseline data was collected in 1998 (N=25 898) and the follow-up in 2003. The present study reveals that the level of SOC in adulthood is strongly dependent on close and successful social relationships during both childhood and adulthood, and that there is a strong association with qualitative work features. Not having a partner as well as being unable to use one s skills at work proved to threaten men s SOC in particular, whereas a lack of social support did the same for women. Otherwise, the association with generalized resistance resources turned out to be quite similar in both genders. Swedish-speaking Finns appear to have a slightly stronger SOC due to the better psycho-emotional circumstances in the childhood home and work circumstances in adulthood, in other words higher levels of generalized resistance resources compared to Finnish speakers. These language group differences did not concern any social-life factors included in the present study. The results of the five-year follow-up study suggest that SOC is not stable, and that the level clearly decreases after a negative life event. Even a strong SOC decreased during the follow-up period and, furthermore, was no more stable than a mediocre or weak SOC. There seems to be a clear and independent association with the intentions to retire early among both men and women following full adjustment. Swedish speakers appear to be less inclined to retire early than Finnish speakers. In the light of the present study, it seems that SOC is determined not only by socio-economic factors but also by close and successful social relationships during both childhood and adulthood. This applied to both genders and language groups. Interventions aimed at promoting the health of the disadvantaged should therefore focus on families with children, and extend later also to other than socio-economic spheres of life. SOC theory could also be applied in efforts to inhibit early retirement: management practices aimed at providing employees with a work environment and tasks that are comprehensible, manageable and meaningful could potentially decrease the intentions to retire early.
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Tutkimuskohteenani ovat Helsingin Diakonissalaitoksen Pilke-projektin päivätoimintaryhmät ikääntyville päihteidenkäyttäjille. Helsingin Diakonissalaitoksen Pilke-projekti on osa Sininauhaliiton Liika on aina liikaa – ikääntyminen ja alkoholi -hanketta ja sitä rahoittaa Raha-automaattiyhdistys. Idea tutkimuksen tekoon nousi Liika on aina liikaa – ikääntyminen ja alkoholi -hankkeen tutkimustarpeiden myötä, tarpeesta saada kuuluviin yhden osahankkeen asiakkaiden ääni ja nostaa esiin heidän näkemyksensä ja kokemuksensa ryhmätoiminnasta, johon he osallistuvat, ja jota ei ole tutkittu vielä. Yhtenä perusteluna tutkimuksen tekemiselle on myös se, että aihe on uusi ja sitä ei ole juurikaan tutkittu. Tutkimusotteeni on etnografinen. Olen havainnoinut kolmea, Helsingin Diakonissalaitoksen eri tiloissa kokoontuvaa Pilke-ryhmää reilun puolen vuoden ajan. Tämän lisäksi olen haastatellut ryhmien jäseniä ryhmähaastattelun keinoin. Tutkimusnäkökulmaani olen laajentanut koskemaan myös ohjaajien työtä, koska pidän heidän työnsä näkyväksi tekemistä tärkeänä. Analyysissä yhdistän etnografisen aineiston temaattista luentaa ja diskurssianalyyttisempää otetta kiinnittäen huomiota puheella tuotettuihin ja puheen tuottamiin merkityksiin, vuorovaikutukseen keskustelijoiden välillä sekä identiteetin rakentumiseen puheessa. Tutkimuksessa pyrin kuvaamaan ja ymmärtämään ikääntyvien päihteidenkäyttäjien ryhmätoimintaa ja sen merkitystä ikääntyville sekä sitä, miten ryhmään löydytään. Ryhmähaastatteluissa kiinnostukseni kohdistuu etenkin siihen, miten ikääntyvät kokevat Pilke-ryhmätoiminnan ja millaisia määrittelyjä he itsestään ja suhteestaan ryhmätoimintaan tai alkoholiin antavat. Tuon esiin myös sitä, millaisiin haasteisiin tutkija voi törmätä tutkiessa ikääntyneitä päihteidenkäyttäjiä. Pohdin esimerkiksi afaattisesti puhuvien ihmisten haastattelemista ryhmähaastattelun keinoin sekä miksi havainnointi on mielestäni hyvä tapa tutkia ikääntyneitä päihteidenkäyttäjiä. Tulo Pilkkeeseen alkaa etsivästä työstä. Verkostojen yhteistyöllä ryhmiin päätyvät sellaiset ikääntyvät, joista suurin osa ei olisi kotonaan aktiivisten eläkeläisten harrastuspiireissä, koska niissä ei ole totuttu käymään ja sosiaalinen elämä on rajoittunut esimerkiksi lähiöravintolaan. Puhutaan haastavanakin pidetystä vähemmistöstä ikääntyneiden joukossa. Alkoholia on käytetty jo pitkään, tai sitä on ryhdytty käyttämään runsaasti vasta iäkkäänä. Pilkkeeseen löytyvistä ikääntyvistä varsin suuri osa kuitenkin kiinnittyy ryhmään. Tähän syynä ovat uusien ihmiskontaktien saamisen tärkeys, ohjaajien persoona, keskustelumahdollisuus ja mahdollisuus tehdä käsillä jotain, mitä kenties ei koskaan tulisi kotona tehtyä. Kynnys osallistumiseen on matala ja vaatimuksia elämäntapoja muuttamiselle ei ole. Pilkkeen merkitys siihen osallistuville on tulosteni mukaan suuri. Pilke katkaisee usein yksinäiseksikin koettua arkea ja muut ryhmässä käyvät koetaan tärkeiksi. Pilke tarjoaa mahdollisuuden jakaa ajatuksiaan ja omaa elämäntarinaansa. Huumori kantaa Pilke-tapaamisia. Myös käsillä tekeminen koetaan tärkeäksi ja sen huomaaminen, että tekemisen taito on tallella, voimaannuttaa. Pilke luo uudenlaista järjestystä elämään ja sen myötä myös alkoholinkäyttö osalla vähenee. Etenkin pitkäaikaisille jäsenille Pilkkeen voi sanoa muodostuvan kiinnipitäväksi ympäristöksi, joka on tutkimukseni keskeinen, alun perin D.W. Winnicottin käyttämä käsite.
Resumo:
Suomen maahanmuuttajaväestö on keskittynyt kaupunkeihin, ja erityisesti pääkaupunkiseudulle ja muihin suurimpiin kaupunkikeskuksiin. Samaten kansallinen maahanmuuttopolitiikka kohdistuu ensisijaisesti suurimmille kaupunkiseuduille. Väestön ikääntymisen ja työvoimatarpeen tyydyttämisen kysymykset koskettavat kuitenkin mitä suurimmassa määrin myös maaseutua. Uusimmissa maaseutupoliittisissa ohjelmissa maahanmuutto ja maaseudun kansainvälistymisen tematiikka on jo jossakin määrin näkyvissä. Politiikka ei kuitenkaan ole voinut tukeutua maahanmuuttoa koskevaan tutkimukseen, koska aikaisemmassa tutkimuksessa ei juuri ole käsitelty maaseutuympäristöstä aiheutuvia erityiskysymyksiä. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tarkastella työperäisen maahanmuuton nykytilaa ja kehitysnäkymiä maaseudulla. Käytännöllisenä tarkoituksena oli tarjota tietoa ja toimenpidesuosituksia siitä, miten maahanmuuttopolitiikkaa voitaisiin maaseutumaisilla alueilla parhaiten toteuttaa. Tutkimuksen kohdealueiksi valittiin kaksi maahanmuuton ääripään maakuntaa: Varsinais-Suomi ja Etelä-Pohjanmaa. Tutkimus koostui neljästä osasta: tilastotarkastelusta, kyläyhdistyksille ja -toimikunnille kohdistetusta kyselystä, kuntatyönantajille kohdistetusta kyselystä sekä maahanmuuttajien haastatteluista. Tulosten perusteella tutkimusalueet eroavat maakuntina toisistaan sekä maahanmuuttajien määrässä että rakenteessa. Varsinais-Suomessa maahanmuuttajia on suhteessa väestöön Manner-Suomen maakunnista toiseksi eniten. Etelä-Pohjanmaalla sen sijaan ulkomaalaisten osuus väestöstä on maan alhaisin. Kummankin alueen kaksi suurinta vieraskielisen väestön kieliryhmää (poislukien ruotsi) ovat venäjä ja viro. Varsinais-Suomen vieraskielisten ryhmässä korostuu kuitenkin pakolaisten osuus. Etelä-Pohjanmaan vieraskieliset sen sijaan ovat pääosin naapurivaltioista kotoisin olevia työperäisiä maahanmuuttajia. Varsinais-Suomessa maahanmuuttajat ovat asettuneet asumaan kaupunkeihin, Turkuun ja sen lähikuntiin sekä Saloon. Maaseutumaisissa kunnissa maahanmuuttajista asui vain kuusi prosenttia. Etelä-Pohjanmaalla vieraskieliset jakaantuivat tasaisemmin. Noin kolmasosa heistä asui kaupungissa (Seinäjoki), reilu kolmasosa taajaan asutuissa kunnissa ja niukka kolmasosa maaseutumaisissa kunnissa. Vieraskielisten suhteellinen osuus kuntien väestöstä on kuitenkin suurempi Etelä-Pohjanmaan maaseutumaisissa kunnissa kuin Varsinais-Suomen vastaavilla alueilla. Tästä voitaneen vetää se johtopäätös, että vieraskielisten asema – esimerkiksi palveluiden, näkyvyyden, tarpeiden ja niiden tyydyttämisen suhteen – on Etelä-Pohjanmaan maaseudulla vahvempi kuin Varsinais-Suomen vastaavalla alueella. Johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että maahanmuuttajien alueellinen keskittyminen kaupunkeihin tukee huonosti maaseudun työvoiman tarjonnan kehitystä. Työperäisen maahanmuuton lisääminen maaseudulle siten, että näköpiirissä oleva työvoiman tarve tulisi katettua, tarvitsee erityisiä toimia. Maahanmuuttajien työllistymisen osalta tutkimuksessa käytettiin Tilastokeskuksen kokoamia tilastoaineistoja, joihin on koottu maassa vähintään vuoden oleskelleiden ulkomaan kansalaisten tietoja. Tulosten mukaan kolme neljästä ulkomaalaisesta sijoittui palveluammatteihin. Painopiste oli kaupan alalla, joka oli palveluammateissa työskentelevien naisten että miesten pääasiallinen toimiala. Maahanmuuttajien ryhmässä työvoiman osuus on kasvanut tasaisesti 1990-luvun puolivälistä lähtien niin, että vuonna 2005 se oli jo miltei sama kuin kantaväestön keskuudessa. Samaan aikaan maahanmuuttajien työttömyysaste on laskenut, pysytellen kuitenkin yli kaksinkertaisena kantaväestöön verrattuna. Tosin eri kansallisuusryhmien väliset erot ovat suuret: Työministeriön vuotta 2006 koskevan arvion mukaan työttömyysaste vaihteli irakilaisten 66 prosentista kiinalaisten 8 prosenttiin. Maahanmuuttajaväestön asemaan työmarkkinoilla vaikuttaa voimakkaasti Suomeen saapumisen syy. Pakolaistaustaisten työllistyminen on vaikeampaa johtuen heidän yleisestä heikommasta koulutustaustastaan, kielitaidostaan sekä kulttuurisesta ja maantieteellisestä etäisyydestään. Työperäisesti maahan tulleet ovat puolestaan usein jo tullessaan koulutettuja ja työhönsä nähden kielitaitoisia. Kantaväestön ja ulkomaalaisten suurimmat erot työllistymisessä olivat siinä, että ulkomaalaisista reilu neljännes oli hakiessaan toimenpidetyöllistettyjä (kantaväestössä vain noin 14 prosenttia) ja toisaalta ulkomaalaisissa ei juuri ollut työttömyyseläkeläisiä, joita kantaväestön työnhakijoissa oli keskimäärin lähes viidennes. Maahanmuuttajat työllistyivät Etelä-Pohjanmaan maaseudulla paremmin ja keskenään tasaisemmin kuin Varsinais-Suomen maaseudulla. Etelä-Pohjanmaalla oli tutkimusajankohtana tarjolla pääasiassa venäläistä ja virolaista työvoimaa: miltei puolet (46,6 %) työttömistä työnhakijoista kuului näihin kahteen kansallisuuteen. Varsinais-Suomessa työvoiman tarjonta jakaantui tasaisemmin eri kansallisuuksien kesken. Varsinais-Suomen maahanmuuttajien pakolaistausta näkyy heikosti koulutetun väestön suhteellisessa suuruudessa. Samaan viittaisi sekin, että ammattitaidottomaksi luokitellun työvoiman osuus oli Varsinais-Suomessa korkeampi kuin Etelä-Pohjanmaalla. Johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että maahanmuuttajat eivät tällä hetkellä muodosta maaseudulla mitään erityistä työvoimareserviä. Tarvittaessa työvoimaa on hankittava joko kaupungeista tai suoraan maahanmuuton lähtöalueilta, mikä lisää paineita järjestää maaseutukuntiin toimivat maahanmuuttajien kotouttamispalvelut. Kansallisuuksista olisi luontevaa keskittyä venäläisiin ja virolaisiin, koska ne muodostavat jo tällä hetkellä vähäisen maahanmuuttajajoukon pääryhmät. Tällöin kotoutumispalvelujen järjestäminen olisi kaikkein helpointa. Lisäksi maahanmuuttajien työllistymisessä tulee erityisesti huomioida se, ovatko he pakolaisia vai muusta syystä maahan tulleita. Myös Etelä-Pohjanmaalla tulee varautua pakolaistaustaisten maahanmuuttajien määrän lisääntymiseen. Maaseutukuntien tilanne maahanmuuttajien työnantajina ja kotouttajina osoittautui tutkimuksessa varsin haasteelliseksi. Ensinnäkin tutkimuksen aikana tapahtui lukuisia kuntaliitoksia, jotka aiheuttivat sekaannusta kuntakentässä. Toiseksi kuntien työvoimatarve ei ilmeisesti ollut tutkimuksen tekohetkellä vielä niin akuutti kysymys kuin monilla muilla aloilla. Kunnat olivat kuitenkin työllistäneet ulkomaalaisia monipuolisesti eri tehtäviin ja monet vastaajat näkivät työvoimatarvetta erityisesti hoito- ja hoiva-aloilla. Kotouttamispalvelujen osalta yhteiseksi piirteeksi nousi palvelujen järjestäminen tarpeen ja tilanteen mukaan, koska maahanmuuttajamäärät ovat olleet varsin pieniä. Kokonaisuutena kuva maaseutukunnista työllistäjinä ja kotouttajina jäi suhteellisen epäselväksi. Taustalla saattaa olla edelleen maahanmuuton kytkeminen pakolaispolitiikkaan, jossa maaseutukunnat eivät juurikaan ole olleet aktiivisia. Johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että maaseutukuntien tulee laatia tai päivittää toimivat ja riittävän konkreettiset maahanmuuttopoliittiset ohjelmat, ja tiedottaa niistä tehokkaasti sekä omissa organisaatioissaan että sidosryhmien suuntaan. Ohjelmissa tulee selkeästi ottaa kantaa sekä pakolaisten vastaanoton että työperäisen maahanmuuton kysymyksiin. Ohjelmissa tulisi kotouttamispalvelujen järjestämisen lisäksi linjata myös kunnan rooli maahanmuuttajien työnantajina. Kolmanneksi ohjelmissa tulisi huomioida kolmannen sektorin toimijoiden merkitys maaseudun maahanmuuttajien lähimpänä kontaktipintana suomalaiseen kansalaisyhteiskuntaan. Virolaistaustaisten maahanmuuttajien erityistä kielitaitoa – viro, venäjä, suomi – voitaisiin nykyistä paremmin hyödyntää erityisesti venäläisten kotouttamisessa. Julkisen sektorin ohuus nostaa maaseutukunnissa esiin myös kolmannen sektorin merkityksen maahanmuuttajien kotoutumisen edistäjänä. Yhdistykset ovat melko hyvin tietoisia alueellaan asuvista ulkomaalaisista, mitä voidaan pitää hyvänä lähtökohtana. Yhdistykset ovat kuitenkin voimakkaasti jakautuneet kahteen eri ryhmään sen suhteen koskeeko maahanmuuttajakysymys niiden toimintaa. Maahanmuuttajia ei myöskään ole erityisesti tavoiteltu kyliin asumaan eivätkä yhdistykset ole järjestäneet erityistä kotoutumista edistävää toimintaa. Yhdistysten mielestä maahanmuuttajia voidaan sen sijaan kutsua mukaan normaaliin toimintaan aivan kuten muitakin kyläläisiä, mikä onkin maahanmuuttajien vähäisen määrän vuoksi varsin luonteva tapa toimia. Maaseudulle asettuneet maahanmuuttajat ovat haastattelujen mukaan suhteellisen tyytyväisiä elämäänsä. Elämä rakentuu työn, ystävien ja perheen varaan, kuten kantaväestölläkin. Maaseudulla asumisessa on koettu myös haasteita, kuten nurkkakuntaisuus ja sosiaalisen elämän vähäisyys. Moni tunsi kuitenkin olleensa onnekas löydettyään hiljaisen, rauhallisen ja turvallisen asuinpaikan maasta, jossa on korkea elintaso ja toimivat hyvinvointipalvelut. Suomalainen maaseutu näyttäytyy silti tietynlaisena rajaseutuna, jonne ovat ehtineet ensimmäiset rohkeat tienraivaajat. Haastateltuja leimasi tietynlainen rohkeus ja pilottihenkisyys. Maahanmuuttajiin oli myös suhtauduttu yksilöinä ja heistä on oltu kiinnostuneita toisin kuin kaupungeissa. Keskeinen kysymys on, onko maaseutuyhteisöissä olemassa maahanmuuttajien suhteen jokin raja-arvo, minkä ylittäminen aiheuttaa vastareaktioiden käynnistymisen. Tällä hetkellä näyttäisi siltä, että joko tätä raja-arvoa ei ole tai sitten siitä ollaan vielä hyvin kaukana. Johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että maahanmuuttajat ovat halukkaita ja valmiita toimimaan yhteisöjen hyväksi, ehkä jopa aktiivisemmin kuin kantaväestö. Kyläyhteisöjen kannattaisikin pyrkiä ottamaan maahanmuuttajat aktiivisesti mukaan osaksi kylän normaalia toimintaa. Maahanmuuttajat tarvitsevat kuitenkin kantaväestöä enemmän yhdistystoiminnan periaatteista tiedottamista. Lisäksi kyläyhteisöt voisivat olla aktiivisempia ulkomaalaistaustaisten asukkaiden hankinnassa. Yhdistysten tulisi myös olla tietoisia oman kunnan tai alueen maahanmuuttajille tarkoitetuista erityispalveluista, jotta he voivat ohjata maaseudulla usein yksittäin asuvat maahanmuuttajat niiden piiriin.
Resumo:
Among Girls Youth Work, Multiculturalism and Gender Equality Finland s increasingly multicultural society concerns younger generations in a very particular manner. Starting already in pre-school kindergartens, children from different cultural backgrounds share their everyday existence. The focus of this study is Finland s increasingly multicultural society that has challenged youth work professionals in particular and made them rethink questions related to content, basic values and goals of youth work. These reconsiderations include the following essential questions: which of these pedagogic principles are defined as Finnish, and under what kinds of circumstances would the youth workers be ready to negotiate about them. These questions, which are related to multiculturalism, are then linked to the girls position, status and gender equality. The research examines how gender equality is articulated in relation to multiculturalism and vice versa, in what contexts youth work-related questions are negoatiated in, and how these negotiations then relate to gender issues. The present study combines theoretical concepts and debates from both post-colonial and youth research, and has benefited greatly from previous research which has examined the everyday lives of young people with multicultural backgrounds and conceptualised the different meanings of age, ethnicity, culture and gender. Neither multiculturalism nor gender equality is, however, taken as a given concept in this study; rather the research focuses on how youth workers understand and define these concepts and how they are used. The emphasis has been on monitoring the varying consequences of different understandings and definitions in terms of everyday work and practices. The goal of this study has been to find typical ways of conceptualising multiculturalism, gender equality and the role of girls in the context of youth work. The focus of the research is not just the youth workers different views but also the notions of the girls themselves. These are then further analysed by examining the ways the girls negotiate their agency. Examples of how the girls agency is defined and the different forms of agency that are offered to the girls within the context of leisure time activities and youth work have been sought. The kind of agency the girls then assume is also examined. The data in this research is comprised of interviews with young people with multicultural backgrounds (n=39), youth workers (n=42) and of ethnographic fieldwork (2003 2005). The fieldwork concentrated on following different types of youth work activities that were targeted at girls with migrant backgrounds. These were organized both by selected municipalities and NGOs. The research shows that various questions related to multicultural issues have enhanced the visibility of gender equality in the field of youth work. The identification of gender-based inequality is especially closely linked to the position of girls from migrant backgrounds. These girls are a source of particular worry and the aim of the many activity groups for migrant girls is to educate them so that they can become equal Finnish citizens . The youth work itself is seen as gender-neutral and equality based. Equality in this context is defined as a purely quantitative concept, and the solution to any possible inequalities is thus the exact same treatment for everyone . The girls themselves seem mainly confused by the role that is offered to them. They would need a voice and the possibility to have an impact on the planning of youth work activities. They want to have their views heard. The role of the victim assigned to them is very confining and makes it difficult to act. At the same time the research shows how gender-sensitive youth work is seen to mean youth work with girls. Gender-sensitive work with boys is not really done or is done very little, even if many of the interviewees are of the opinion that the true materialization of gender equality would require boys to be taken into account too. The principle of gender equality should be shared by the entire youth work profession. Keywords Youth work, equality, multiculturalism, gender sensitivity, agency, girls, young people, sexuality
Resumo:
In this study the junction of Christian mission, Christian education and voluntary work are examined in the Christian student voluntary association Opiskelijain Lähetysliitto (OL), which is the Finnish successor to the Student Volunteer Movement. The main subjects are the structure and content of the mission education as one aspect of Lutheran education and the reasons for expressing the mission interest through voluntary work. The research questions are as follows: What kind of organization has the OL been? What has mission education been like in the OL? Why have the former chairpersons participated in the OL? How have purposiveness and intentionality arisen among the former chairpersons? The study is empirical despite having a historical and retrospective view, since the OL is explored during the period 1972 2000. The data consists of the OL s annual reports, membership applications (N=629) and interviews of all 25 former chairmen. Data is analysed by qualitative and quantitative content analysis in a partly inductive and partly deductive manner. The pedagogical framework arises from situational learning theory (Lave - Wenger 1991), which was complemented with the criteria for meaningful learning (Jonassen 1995), the octagon model of volunteer motivation (Yeung 2004) and the definitions of intentionality and purposiveness in the theory of teachers pedagogical thinking (Kansanen et al. 2000). The analysis of the archive data showed that the activities of the OL are reminiscent of those of the missions of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church congregations. The biggest difference was that all OL participants were young adults, the age group that is the greatest challenge to the Church. The OL is therefore an interesting context in which to explore mission education and mission interest. The key result of the study was the forming of a model of mission educa-tion. The model has three educational components: values, goals and methods. The gist of the model is formed by the goals. The main goal is the arousing and strengthening of mission interest which has emotional, cognitive and practical aspects. The subgoals create the horizontal vertical and inward outward dimensions of the model, which are the metalevels of mission education. The subgoals reveal that societal and religious education may embody a missionary dimension when they are understood as missionary training. Further, a distinction between mission education and missionary training was observed. The former emphasizes the main goal of the model and the latter underlines the subgoals. Based on the vertical dimension of the model the study suggests that the definition of religious competence needs to be complemented with missional competence. Reasons for participating in the OL were found to be diverse as noted in other studies on volunteering and motivating factors, and were typical to young people such as the importance of social relations. The study created new motivational themes that occurred in the middle of the continuity newness and the distance proximity dimensions, which were not found in Yeung s research. Mission interest as voluntary work appeared as oriented towards one s own spirituality or towards the social community. On the other hand, mission interest was manifested as intentional education in order to either improve the community or to promote the Christian mission. In the latter case the mission was seen as a purpose in life and as a future profession. Keywords: mission, Christian education, voluntary work, mission education, mission interest, stu-dent movement
Resumo:
This study investigates how the religious community as a socialization context affects the development of young people's religious identity and values, using Finnish Seventh-day Adventism as a context for the case study. The research problem is investigated through the following questions: (1) What aspects support the intergenerational transmission of values and tradition in religious home education? (2) What is the role of social capital and the social networks of the religious community in the religious socialization process? (3) How does the religious composition of the peer group at school (e.g., a denominational school in comparison to a mainstream school) affect these young people s social relations and choices and their religious identity (as challenged versus as reinforced by values at school)? And (4) How do the young people studied negotiate their religious values and religious membership in the diverse social contexts of the society at large? The mixed method study includes both quantitative and qualitative data sets (3 surveys: n=106 young adults, n=100 teenagers, n=55 parents; 2 sets of interviews: n=10 young adults and n=10 teenagers; and fieldwork data from youth summer camps). The results indicate that, in religious home education, the relationship between parents and children, the parental example of a personally meaningful way of life, and encouraging critical thinking in order for young people to make personalized value choices were important factors in socialization. Overall, positive experiences of the religion and the religious community were crucial in providing direction for later choices of values and affiliations. Education that was experienced as either too severe or too permissive was not regarded as a positive influence for accepting similar values and lifestyle choices to those of the parents. Furthermore, the religious community had an important influence on these young people s religious socialization in terms of the commitment to denominational values and lifestyle and in providing them with religious identity and rooting them in the social network of the denomination. The network of the religious community generated important social resources, or social capital, for both the youth and their families, involving both tangible and intangible benefits, and bridging and bonding effects. However, the study also illustrates the sometimes difficult negotiations the youth face in navigating between differentiation and belonging when there is a tension between the values of a minority group and the larger society, and one wants to and does belong to both. It also demonstrates the variety within both the majority and the minority communities in society, as well as the many different ways one can find a personally meaningful way of being an Adventist. In the light of the previous literature about socialization-in-context in an increasingly pluralistic society, the findings were examined at four levels: individual, family, community and societal. These were seen as both a nested structure and as constructing a funnel in which each broader level directs the influences that reach the narrower ones. The societal setting directs the position and operation of religious communities, families and individuals, and the influences that reach the developing children and young people are in many ways directed by societal, communal and family characteristics. These levels are by nature constantly changing, as well as being constructed of different parts, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, each of which alters in significance: for some negotiations on values and memberships the parental influence may be greater, whereas for others the peer group influences are. Although agency does remain somewhat connected to others, the growing youth are gradually able to take more responsibility for their own choices and their agency plays a crucial role in the process of choosing values and group memberships. Keywords: youth, community, Adventism, socialization, values, identity negotiations
