RESULTS RELATED TO BACKGROUND QUESTIONS

The questionnaire consisted of 22 items to gather biographical and work-related data of the respondents. The Finnish sample consisted of 30 respondents of whom 26 were female and 4 male. The German sample (N=25) consisted of 18 female and 7 male respondents. The age structure of the Finnish sample is more balanced than that of the German sample. Whereas the Finnish sample consisted of about the same number of employees in all age groups (25-64 years old), three quarters of the German sample were between 30 and 54 years old. Younger and older employees were underrepresented in the German sample. Almost 60% of the Finnish respondents reported „married‟ as their marital status, compared to 36% of the Germans. About 25% of the employees in both samples reported their status as „living together‟, which means that 80% of the Finnish sample and 60% of the German sample were living with a partner. The percentage of employees who were separated or divorced was similar (17% in Finland and 16% in Germany). Whereas 24% (n=6) of the German respondents reported being unmarried, only 3% (n=1) of the Finnish respondents were unmarried.

These high numbers of respondents living together and being married in both samples are correlated with the preferred way of self care, with about one third reporting „family‟ as their preference. The second most choice was „sport‟ (30% in Finland, 20% in Germany). Whereas about one third of the German respondents chose „relaxation‟ or „friends‟ as their main choice, it is an underrepresented option for the Finnish respondents (10%, n=3). On the other hand, „hobbies‟ was chosen by 7 Finnish respondents, and only by 1 German. Forty-four percent of German respondents are second-born children compared with 17% in Finland.

80 Most of the Finnish respondents (57%) being third- or fourth-born children compared to 28%

in Germany.

Most of the respondents in both countries reported having the typical social work qualification, but because of a high number of unusable data (28% of Finnish and 37% of German respondents) it is difficult to make a reliable conclusion. However, it is reasonable to assume that the all the respondents hold a degree in social work. Work experience after graduation was evenly spread out in both samples. About one third of the Finnish sample reported work experiences of 0-5 years, compared with 21% in Germany, and about 25%

(n=7) of the Finns reported more than 25 years of work experience, compared with 17%

(n=4) of the Germans. All other respondents reported work experience between 6 and 20 years. The item „years in current profession‟ shows in both samples a linear progression from 0-5 years (in Finland n=13, in Germany n=10) to more than 25 years (both samples n=1).

This shows that only two of the eleven employees who have more than 25 years work experience have also more than 25 years in the current position. The most of the respondents work in a standard position (in Finland n=22, in Germany n=15), and 4 of the Finnish and 4 of the German respondents work in a specialised position. Three of the Finnish sample and two of the German sample reported working in a leading position. One German respondent reported working in an administrative position.

Full-time employment is the most common form of contract in both samples. In Finland, 28 respondents reported 31-40 or more contractual working hours, compared with 17 in Germany. However, in Germany it seems to be more common to work part-time (n=7, in Finland n=2). The caseload differs between the samples. Eleven of the German respondents reported a current caseload of 21-40 cases, compared with 7 in Finland. Eight of the Finns and fiver of the Germans reported a caseload of 41-60 cases, and more than 80 cases were reported by 7 Finns and 2 Germans. One reason for these differences can be the higher number of part-time employees in Germany and the different tasks of social workers in each country. This is also shown by the time a social worker spends with clients per week. Half of both samples reported spending 11-20 hours per week with clients, but 10 Finns and 1 German reported spending 21-30 hours, whereas 3 Finns and 11 Germans reported spending 0-10 hours per week with clients.

Big differences could be found in the kind of departments where employees of both samples are employed (Figure 5). Over 75% of the Finnish but only 12% of the German respondents

81 reported working in child protection departments. Most (56%) of the Germans but only 13%

of the Finns reported working in educational assistance departments. These differences can be related to differences in social work education in both countries, but also to differences in the organisation of social services.

Figure 5: Distributions of Respondents between Social Service Departments

This can also explain why „granting aid‟ was reported by 40% of the Germans but only by 21% of the Finns as their main task, whereas the main tasks of Finnish employees are

„decision making‟ (32%) and counselling (25%), 24% and 12%, respectively, in Germany.

More than half of the respondents of both samples (55% in Finland, 52% in Germany) reported „families‟ as their main target group, followed by „children and youth‟ (38% in Finland, 28% in Germany). Only in Germany did respondents (12%) report working with

Finland N=30Germany N=25

1 4

23 2 4

14

3 4

Other Educational assistance Child custody Child protection Basic needs

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„people with disabilities‟. Three items gathered data concerning the amount of preventive, crisis and administrative work. Most of the Finnish (60%) and German (80%) respondents reported spending up to 20% of their work time with preventive work. Over half (57%) of the Finns reported spending up to 20%, and 37% reported spending 21-40% of their work-time with crisis work. The corresponding figures for the Germans are 36% and 40%, respectively.

Also more than half (57%) of the Finnish respondents reported spending up to 20% of their time with administrative tasks, compared with only 8% (n=2) in Germany. One third of the German respondents (13% in Finland) spend 21-40%, and more than one third (3% (n=1) in Finland) 41-60% of their work-time with administrative tasks.

Another group of items deals with work-related support. Almost three quarters (71%) of the German respondents reported having weekly team meetings, and 29% have such meetings every other week. In the Finnish sample, 80% reported having team meetings weekly and 10% every other week. One Finnish respondent reported having team meetings every third week, once a month, and less often than once a month. The frequency of supervision varies a lot within and between the samples. In the Finnish sample, 25% reported having supervision once a month, 25% less than once a month, and over 25% not at all. Ten percent reported having supervision every third week, one every second week and one weekly. Most (40%) of the German sample has supervision once a month or less than once a month (36%). Twenty percent reported having not any supervision, and one respondent reported having supervision every third week. All German respondents reported having supervision offered by external staff. Over half (57%) of the Finns reported having supervision by internal staff and 43% by external staff. One item asked about the training of the respondents. The answers were coded into three categories: informative training, methodological training up to 15 days, and methodological training longer than 15 days. The reports show that 7 German and 6 Finnish respondents had at least one methodological training lasting longer than 15 days. Further, 12 German and 18 Finnish respondents had at least one methodological training lasting less than 15 days. Additionally, several informative trainings were attended by the respondents in both samples.

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