A subjective well-being pilot study of immigrant families in Jyväskylä, Finland
Kargbo, Fatima Ishak Amin (2021)
Kargbo, Fatima Ishak Amin
2021
Master's Programme in Public and Global Health
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2021-06-03
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202105235310
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202105235310
Tiivistelmä
The well-being of immigrants has a direct effect on public health and economic and social implications for the host country. In addition, the subjective well-being of immigrants plays an important part in their integration into the new host country. Subjective well-being (SWB) is an abstract construct that comprises of two components: hedonia and eudaimonia. Hedonia encompasses life satisfaction and positive and negative affect whereas eudaimonia focuses on an individual’s functioning and potential. The SWB of populations has been an interesting area of research both in Europe and elsewhere, however little is known about the SWB of immigrants in Finland. On average, when compared to the Finnish and Swedish population, fewer immigrants participate in population studies due to limited language skills. This is a problem as more and more people are migrating to other countries and it is of utmost importance that their SWB is taken into account to provide representative and reliable data of the entire population. A language-independent tool was developed to measure the SWB of people with limited language skills to bridge this gap. This new tool called Elämäni Pizza was tested in a pilot study.
This pilot study aimed to find out how the Elämäni Pizza tool can evaluate the SWB of people with limited Finnish language skills and what aspects of SWB were important to immigrants. The Elämäni Pizza is shaped like a circle with eight pizza-shaped sectors. The study participants fill these sectors with images and emoji faces. The Elämäni Pizza uses images with neutral emotions and emoji faces (happy, indifferent, and sad). The study participants select from a range of images, pictures that represent their lives, or aspects that are important to them. Then, they can choose from the three different emoji faces to show how they feel about that area of their lives.
This new tool was used to evaluate the SWB of 50 immigrants (children aged six and above and adults) from different countries with limited Finnish language skills. The participants in this study were selected as a sample of convenience as they were already participating in the Community Integration Project (Yhteisöllinen Kotoutuminen in Finnish) carried out by Pelastakaa Lapset Ry (Save the Children Organization) in Central Finland. The participants were mostly refugees whom had recently been granted a residence permit and have lived in Finland for at least two years. Whereas the other participants were immigrants that were volunteers to the project. The participants used the new tool to assess their SWB. After which, they were interviewed about what the different images they selected represented and their state of SWB. During the interview, the participants' responses were written down and a picture of the completed Elämäni Pizza was taken.
Using content analysis, the written responses of the participants were analysed and a code list was formed. Similar codes were then grouped into themes which were then analysed with existing literature to create a list of SWB constructs. The SWB constructs that appeared to show different domains of hedonia as well as eudaimonia. Some of the domains of life that emerged were family, income, and social relationships. In addition, some eudaimonic concepts that came up were autonomy and optimism for future.
The study findings were consistent with previous research data on SWB in Europe and thus suggest that a language-independent tool may be used to measure the SWB of people with limited language skills. The study findings also show that a language-independent SWB tool like Elämäni Pizza is relatively easy to set up and cost-efficient without using professional translators. Additionally, it helps increase engagements among immigrants with limited language skills to take part in SWB research. Further research is needed to investigate whether the Elämäni Pizza can produce consistent results across people of different languages.
This pilot study aimed to find out how the Elämäni Pizza tool can evaluate the SWB of people with limited Finnish language skills and what aspects of SWB were important to immigrants. The Elämäni Pizza is shaped like a circle with eight pizza-shaped sectors. The study participants fill these sectors with images and emoji faces. The Elämäni Pizza uses images with neutral emotions and emoji faces (happy, indifferent, and sad). The study participants select from a range of images, pictures that represent their lives, or aspects that are important to them. Then, they can choose from the three different emoji faces to show how they feel about that area of their lives.
This new tool was used to evaluate the SWB of 50 immigrants (children aged six and above and adults) from different countries with limited Finnish language skills. The participants in this study were selected as a sample of convenience as they were already participating in the Community Integration Project (Yhteisöllinen Kotoutuminen in Finnish) carried out by Pelastakaa Lapset Ry (Save the Children Organization) in Central Finland. The participants were mostly refugees whom had recently been granted a residence permit and have lived in Finland for at least two years. Whereas the other participants were immigrants that were volunteers to the project. The participants used the new tool to assess their SWB. After which, they were interviewed about what the different images they selected represented and their state of SWB. During the interview, the participants' responses were written down and a picture of the completed Elämäni Pizza was taken.
Using content analysis, the written responses of the participants were analysed and a code list was formed. Similar codes were then grouped into themes which were then analysed with existing literature to create a list of SWB constructs. The SWB constructs that appeared to show different domains of hedonia as well as eudaimonia. Some of the domains of life that emerged were family, income, and social relationships. In addition, some eudaimonic concepts that came up were autonomy and optimism for future.
The study findings were consistent with previous research data on SWB in Europe and thus suggest that a language-independent tool may be used to measure the SWB of people with limited language skills. The study findings also show that a language-independent SWB tool like Elämäni Pizza is relatively easy to set up and cost-efficient without using professional translators. Additionally, it helps increase engagements among immigrants with limited language skills to take part in SWB research. Further research is needed to investigate whether the Elämäni Pizza can produce consistent results across people of different languages.