Next-generation modelling of community work and structural social work in Finland

Figures & data

Table 1. Target groups and social issues

Target groups	N	Issues to address	Structure to address
Young families; parents of challenging young people; multi-service-user families	4	Isolation, need for preventive peer support; lack of sufficient early support for biological parents of children in care	New living area, no opportunity to meet others, lacking community structures; poor collaboration between various service agencies
Children and young people in a community	4	School dropouts, low social inclusion, hard to reach, bullying, not being heard in services	Lacking preventive services, poor access and information regarding services, poor co-operation between service agencies and community
Adult people in marginalized positions	3	Poverty, loneliness, addictions, unemployment, housing problems	Services are unable to provide targeted comprehensive support, lack of meaningful perspectives
Young people with backgrounds of migration	3	Difficulty in coping with service systems; lack of diversity education	Complex jungle of services and social security, poor access to information; racism, spatial segregation
People with housing problems	2	Constant challenges to find low-cost rental houses of modest quality	Socio-economic inequality based on form of housing; stigmatizing service structure for people suffering homelessness
Residents of a community in general	3	Lack of places to meet others and get support for everyday issues at a preventive stage, low participation	Stigmatization of communities, lack of meeting points and participatory approaches, lack of cooperation between authorities and policy-makers and residents
People in psychiatric rehabilitation, and people with mental disabilities	4	Challenges to enter labour market, required use of digital services and banking	Poor collaboration between different institutions in the care chain, digitalization of services ignores the needs of these groups
Elderly people	1	Loneliness, challenging use of services	Individualized insufficient home services, lacking community
Social and care workers	2	Lack of staff, facing burnout	Unsuccessful recruitment strategies, lack of prevention and support regarding burnout

Table 2. Theoretical-conceptual categorization of the designs

Model categories by the next-generation practitioners	Strategy and model of community interventions	Task fields of structural social work
1. Meeting points in communities (N 5)	Community action/Community building	Inclusion work/ Strategic work/Knowledge work
2. Community-wide networking of agencies and target groups (N 6)	Community development/Community organizing	Knowledge work/Strategic work/Justice work
3. Concrete changes and innovations in service systems (N 6)	Community care/Capacity building/Policy & Planning/Advocacy	Strategic work/Inclusion work/Justice work
4. Engagement of people as experts by experience to improve services (N 3)	Community organizing/Capacity development with Social Advocacy	Knowledge work/Strategic work/Inclusion work
5. Ecosocial alternatives (N 2)	Environmentalism/Community building/Policy & Planning	Strategic work/Inclusion work/Justice work
6. Changes in policies (N 4)	Policy & Planning/Anti-racism/Advocacy	Knowledge work/ Justice work/Inclusion work