Study title

Welfare and Services in Finland is a panel survey that combines telephone and face-to-face interviews, postal surveys and register data. The aim of the study is to offer up-to-date, reliable and extensive research data on Finnish welfare and the use of welfare services. In 2009, the survey was conducted as a telephone interview and postal survey. Questions in the telephone interview surveyed well-being, social relationships, health, use and accessibility of health services, informal care, and quality of life. Well-being was charted with questions focusing on the standard of living and housing. The respondents were asked whether they were able to save money and pay their expenses, whether the household could afford certain things (e.g. buy new clothes rather than used ones), and how satisfied they were with different aspects of their housing and neighbourhood of residence. Questions about social relationships probed feelings of loneliness, contacts with friends and relatives, and activities in a club or association. Relating to health and health services, questions were asked about health status, limiting long-term illnesses or disabilities and their impact on daily life, stress, pregnancies, and visits to a doctor or nurse in the previous 12 months. Further questions probed whether the respondents had received sufficient care for health problems, and whether they had had to wait unreasonably long to receive treatment (e.g. to get a doctor's appointment in a health centre). Dental health and visits to a dentist were surveyed as well as perceptions of the quality of public and private health services. Views on social services were charted with questions about trust in the skills of social services staff, the extent to which tax revenue should be used to fund various services, whether social services in Finland functioned well or needed improvement, and whether the respondents would be entitled to different services and benefits should they need them. Use of social...