Peer Research for Young People Leaving Care
The Peer Research is an EU-funded project organised by SOS Children’s Village International which had projects in 4 countries – Albania, the Czech Republic, Finland and Poland. It is a participatory study involving young adults of 18 years and older with care experience who are trained to become interviewers of other young people with care experience. The interviews will cover the transition out of care. For both groups of young people, this will be a sustainable learning process through which they will have a chance to improve the care environment as well as develop their own abilities.
The principal investigator has joined the project and the planning of the data collection. The details for involving data acquisition and use are discussed in detail with the project partners and the young people (both through verbal communication and in written form).
The project uses semi-structured interviews which contain both closed and open questions. The quantitative and the qualitative data from the international project will be used in the RePro project. The phase involving young people who are leaving care has not been thoroughly researched in Finland and to our knowledge no scientific studies have appeared involving this group using peer research methodology. The perspective of the data collection and production serves the idea of promoting participatory childhood research.
The young interviewers have taken part in the planning of the semi-structured interview schedule and the formulating of the questions from the beginning. The ten young people from each country (100 in total) are trained for two days to become interviewers and understand the basics of the interview techniques and the research process. The study is aimed at gaining knowledge from the young adults’ own perspective. Peer research is methodologically a new way of knowledge production. Almost 100 of young adults have been interviewed in other member countries and 53 in Finland, with a total amounting to more than 330 interviews.
The process of data collection has been completed and data analysis was continued in January 2013.
The publications concerning the subproject:
Törrönen, Maritta & Vauhkonen, Teemu (2012). Itsenäistyminen elämänvaiheena. Osallistava vertaistutkimus sijaishuollosta itsenäistyvien nuorten hyvinvoinnista. Helsinki: SOS-Lapsikylä ry. Available at
Törrönen, Maritta & Vauhkonen, Teemu (2012). Everyone is valuable (Participatory peer research on young people leaving alternative care). Helsinki: SOS Children’s Village. Available at https://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/getmedia/ae961081-5cc0-497b-b342-5d4048eb0b64/Peer-Research-Finland-EN.pdf?ext=.pdf.
See also Törrönen, Maritta & Vauhkonen, Teemu (2014). SOS gyermekfalu – Finnország. Mindenki értékes (Everyone is valuable) – Részvételen alapuló kutatás az alternatív ellátást elhagyó fiatal felnöttekröl. In Á. Farkas et al. (Eds.) Jó szülö-e az állam? – A corpotare parenting terminus − Gyarkorlatban való megjelenése. Gyesmek- és ifjúságvédelmi Tanulmányok – Studies in Child and Youth Protection (pp. 144−148). Budabest: Rubeus Egyesület – Rubeus Association. Available at http://www.socio.mta.hu/uploads/files/archive/st_soc_4.pdf, 18.8.2014.
Research project about the topic at the University of Debrecen, Department of Sociology and Social Policy: Is the State a good parent? – Conception of the corporate parenting in the Hungarian child protection system (2014) http://rubeus.hu/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/CPnemzetkozi_2014_final.pdf