Experiences of Reciprocity of Immigrants with a Russian Background
The research project entitled The Empowerment of Families with Children started in the spring of 2011. This is a three year EU-funded international research project coordinated by the University of Helsinki, Palmenia Centre for Continuing Education. The research partners are Department of Sociology and International Center of Social Work of the State University of St. Petersburg, Russia, and Department of Social Research of the University of Helsinki, Finland.
The project aims to improve the welfare of families living in the Finnish-Russian border area, to ensure high quality and easy access to social services in this multicultural society. The project increases the understanding between the two groups (Finns and Russians) regarding their respective social service systems and family life.
The project includes researchers and practitioners from the welfare and health care agencies in South-Eastern Finland (the Kotka-Hamina and Imatra-Lappeenranta Regions) who work with families of Russian origin, students and staff of the Saimaa University of Applied Sciences and students and staff of the Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences.
Part of the quantitative data was collected during an earlier project called Empathos in the year 2007 (N=207). The questionnaire consisted of 63 questions with themes involving family structure, housing, education and work, everyday life, values, life satisfaction and the need for public services. The questions were formulated so that they focused on the reasons individuals and families chose to immigrate to Finland and the difficulties that new immigrants face particularly in areas such as language and their experiences with social services.
In 2012 we repeated the data collection with a fresh perspective and focused on well-being and reciprocity in co-operation with our Russian partners. The sample contains more than 200 immigrants with a Russian background. In addition we have conducted interviews with social workers, parents and children.
Publications concerning the topic (see also Publications):
Törrönen, Maritta, Borodkina, Olga, Samoylova, Valentina, & Heino, Eveliina (Eds.). (2013). Empowering Social Work: Research and Practice. Kotka: University of Helsinki, Lahden tutkimus- ja koulutuskeskus Palmenia. Available at https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/41105/empowering_social_work.pdf?sequence=1. (the content)
Part I: Empowerment theory and social work
Maritta Törrönen, Olga Borodkina, Valentina Samoylova: Trust in reciprocal relationships – The construction of well-being
Olga Borodkina, Maritta Törrönen & Valentina Samoylova: Empowerment as a current trend of social work in Russia
Valentina Samoylova, Maritta Törrönen & Olga Borodkina: Family policy in Russia: problems in the establishment process and new challenges
Part II: Empowering social work with families and individuals
Annika Lillrank: Empowerment and resistance resources for immigrant women – A case study of implementing salutogenic theory in practice
Eveliina Heino, Nadezda Kärmeniemi: Cultural interpretation as an empowering method in social work with immigrant families
Marja Katisko: Families of immigrant background as clients of child protection services
Olga Borodkina, Yulia Fionik: Key issues in social work with people living with HIV/AIDS in Russia
Susanna Raitio: Diaries of family workers: empowerment and working with families with children
Part III: Empowering social work with children and young people
Minna Veistilä: Child-sensitive elements of the construction of child well-being during an acculturation process. Exploring the narratives of well-being of children with a Russian background
Mervi Kaukko: Everyday choices, meaningful activities and reliable adults. Diverse paths to empowerment of unaccompanied asylum-seeking girls
Antti Kivijärvi, Eveliina Heino: Ethnic minority youth and youth work in Finland: everyday anti-racism engendering empowering conditions
Journal of Sociology and Social Psychology, Theme number: Turbulence and challenging transitions of everyday life, will be published 2015 (article in English (engl) and Russian (ru)). (the draft of the content)
Migration
Tavrovsky, A: From differential exclusion to integration: challenges for Russian migration policy (ru)
Anastasia Amirhanjan: Collier’s Model of Migrants’ Social Integration: Application Prospects to Russian Far East (ru)
Veistilä, M. & Heino, E: The construction of well-being in the narratives of immigrant families (engl)
Marja Katisko: Homelessness challenges among migration (engl)
Marina Hakkarainen: From Friendship to Family: Interpersonal Relationship Discourses among Russian-speaking Immigrants in Finland (engl)
Youth
Tarja Juvonen: The Life Choices Considered Within the Framework of Untypical Transitions in Youth at Risk (engl)
Veronika Romanenko: The Transformation of Female Prostitution’ Social Space (on the example of Young Commercial Sex Workers in St. Petersburg) (ru)
Valdemar Kallunki, Olli Lehtonen, Olga Bordkina and Valentina Samoylova: Life satisfaction among Young Adults in South-East Finland and North-West Russia (engl)
Olga Borodkina: Problems and perspective of professional education of people with disabilities (ru)
Family life
M.Klassen : Social Work, Capabilities and Needs (ru)
Valentina Samoylova & Bezrukova Olga: Young family in the system of social support: expectations, resources, solutions (engl)
Maritta Törrönen: Growing Inequality and the Economic Range of Opportunities – A Case Study of Finnish Families with Children (ru)
Teemu Vauhkonen, Marjaana Seppänen & Maritta Törrönen: Exhaustion of Elderly Informal Caregivers – Differences by Gender (engl)
Book Reviews
Costea Roxanna: Empowering Social Work: Research and Practice (engl)
Book 2: Activation of Families resources (ru)