PANDA pandemic social work | Faculty of Social Sciences

Focus and aims of the project

The objective of the PANDA research team and the project The Challenges of a Pandemic Outbreak and Social Work Solutions in Complex Glocal Settings is to provide an overview of the status of social welfare institutions, social work professionals and social work clients during and after the coronavirus pandemic. Specific attention is paid to the status of the most vulnerable and marginalised client groups within social work.

The overall aims of the project are to mitigate the impact of the viral pandemic on the lives of social work clients in the “new normal” and rapidly changing socio-ecological fabric, strengthen social resilience and the performance of professional social and health care workers, as well as improve the adaptive, sustainable and cross-scalar governance of social care and welfare institutions. The project supports the global ethical principles of social work—recognition of the inherent dignity of humanity, promoting human rights and social justice as well as the right to self-determination and participation.

Four intertwined research questions will be set in the project:

1. What changes and challenges do different social work client groups and other people in vulnerable positions face in glocal pandemic settings?

2. What types of personal thoughts, feelings, and emotions do social workers encounter in glocal pandemic settings, during and after a pandemic?

3. What challenges does professional social work face in glocal pandemic settings? What types of solutions are developed and innovated in social care organisations to meet these challenges?

4. How is social work positioned in the public debate and how should it be taken into account in societal measures related to the pandemic?

The objectives of the project will be implemented by 1) analysing six types of research data on social work clients, professional operations, methods applied and performance of social care and welfare institutions during and after the coronavirus pandemic. On the basis of these analyses, 2) qualified and effective social work policies, methods and practical tools will be developed together with the project’s national and international partners in order to prepare for future pandemics. Based on the research results and joint development work with stakeholders, 3) recommendations will be compiled for the improvement and development of the operation of social work during and after the pandemic and as lines of action for future plans.

In collecting, analysing, preserving and publishing research data the project is committed to the ethical guidelines and responsible science manifested by The Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity.

Publications

2023

Saraniemi, Sanna, Harrikari, Timo, Fiorentino, Vera, Romakkaniemi, Marjo, Tiitinen, Laura & Leppiaho, Tuomas (2023) ‘I have built an office for myself in the sauna’ – The well-being of social workers in liminal space during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. International Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1177/00208728231186519

Romakkaniemi, Marjo, Kivistö, Mari, Harrikari, Timo, Hautala, Sanna, Fiorentino, Vera & Leppiaho, Tuomas (2023) Emerging opportunities for relationship-based social work? Finnish social workers’ reflections on utilising digital environments during two phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. European Journal of Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2023.2196374

Raitakari, Suvi, Harrikari, Timo, Hekkala, Marja & Kivipelto, Minna (2023, eds.) Sosiaalityö poikkeuksellisissa olosuhteissa ja kriiseissä. (Social work in exceptional circumstances and crises.) Sosiaalityön tutkimuksen vuosikirja 2023. Jyväskylä: SoPhi (February 2023)

Raitakari, Suvi, Harrikari, Timo, Hekkala, Marja & Kivipelto, Minna (2023) Kriisiyhteiskunnan ihmisen arki ja sosiaalityö. (The everyday life and social work in crisis society.) In Raitakari, Suvi, Harrikari, Timo, Hekkala, Marja & Kivipelto, Minna (eds.) Sosiaalityö poikkeuksellisissa olosuhteissa ja kriiseissä. Sosiaalityön tutkimuksen vuosikirja 2023. Jyväskylä: SoPhi

Fiorentino, Vera, Harrikari Timo, Romakkaniemi Marjo & Saraniemi Sanna (2023) Sosiaalialan työn kiihtyvyys COVID-19-pandemian seurauksena. (The acceleration of the work of social welfare as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.) In Raitakari, Suvi, Harrikari, Timo, Hekkala, Marja & Kivipelto, Minna (eds.) Sosiaalityö poikkeuksellisissa olosuhteissa ja kriiseissä. Sosiaalityön tutkimuksen vuosikirja 2023. Jyväskylä: SoPhi

Harrikari, Timo, Mooney, Joseph, Adusumalli, Malathi, McFadden, Paula & Leppiaho, Tuomas (2023, eds.) Social Work during COVID-19: Glocal Perspectives and Implications for the Future of Social Work. London: Routledge (April 2023), 304 pp. https://www.routledge.com/Social-Work-During-COVID-19-Glocal-Perspectives-and-Implications-for-the/Harrikari-Mooney-Adusumalli-McFadden-Leppiaho/p/book/9781032215396#

Harrikari, Timo (2023) Social work through a pandemic: Living with complexity, mobilising adaptive capacity, and promoting social resilience? In Harrikari, Timo, Mooney, Joseph, Adusumalli, Malathi, McFadden, Paula & Leppiaho, Tuomas (2023, eds.) Social Work during COVID-19: Glocal Perspectives and Implications for the Future of Social Work. London: Routledge

Harrikari, Timo (2023) Social Work through Pandemic: Conclusions, Lessons Learned, and Future Orientations. In Harrikari, Timo, Mooney, Joseph, Adusumalli, Malathi, McFadden, Paula & Leppiaho, Tuomas (2023, eds.) Social Work during COVID-19: Glocal Perspectives and Implications for the Future of Social Work. London: Routledge

Fiorentino, Vera, Leskosek, Vesna, Romakkaniemi, Marjo, Harrikari, Timo & Ovaskainen, Sanna (2023) Development of digital social work in the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic in Slovenia and Finland. Harrikari, Timo, Mooney, Joseph, Adusumalli, Malathi, McFadden, Paula & Leppiaho, Tuomas (2023, eds.) Social Work during COVID-19: Glocal Perspectives and Implications for the Future of Social Work. London: Routledge.

2022

Romakkaniemi, Marjo, Harrikari, Timo, Hautala, Sanna, Saraniemi, Sanna, Fiorentino, Vera, Leppiaho, Tuomas & Tiitinen, Laura (2022) Sosiaalityöntekijöiden asemoituminen ja ammatillinen pääoma pandemian alkuvaiheessa. (The positionings and professional capital of social workers in the early stages of the pandemic.) Yhteiskuntapolitiikka 5–6, 539–548 https://www.julkari.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/145556/YP2205-6_Romakkaniemiym.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Fiorentino Vera, Romakkaniemi Marjo, Harrikari Timo, Saraniemi Sanna & Tiitinen Laura (2022) Towards Digitally Mediated Social Work- the Impact of COVID19 -pandemic to Encountering Clients in Social Work. Qualitative Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250221075603

Saraniemi Sanna, Harrikari Timo, Fiorentino Vera, Romakkaniemi Marjo & Tiitinen Laura (2022) Silenced Coffee Rooms - The Changes in Social Capital within Social Workers' Work Communities during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Challenges 13, no. 1:8. https://doi.org/10.3390/challe13010008.

2021

Harrikari Timo, Romakkaniemi Marjo, Fiorentino Vera, Saraniemi Sanna, Tiitinen Laura & Leppiaho Tuomas (2021) Sosiaaliala ja koronaviruspandemia (The field of social welfare and Covid-19 pandemic) Abstract available in English. Available online at: Pohjois-Suomen sosiaalialan osaamiskeskuksen julkaisusarja

Romakkaniemi Marjo, Harrikari Timo, Saraniemi Sanna, Tiitinen Laura & Fiorentino Vera (2021) ‘Bonding, bridging and linking the last resort tailboard’: Shifts in social workers’ professional positions and mobilizing adaptive capital during the coronavirus pandemic. Nordic Social Work Research https://doi.org/10.1080/2156857X.2021.1992489

Harrikari, Timo, Romakkaniemi, Marjo, Tiitinen Laura and Ovaskainen, Sanna (2021) Pandemic and Social Work: Exploring Finnish Social Workers’ Experiences through a SWOT-analysis. British Journal of Social Work, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcab052

2020

Tiitinen, Laura, Ovaskainen, Sanna, Harrikari, Timo and Romakkaniemi, Marjo (2020) The case of Finland. In Lena Dominelli, Timo Harrikari, Joseph Mooney, Vesna Leskosek, and Erin Kennedy Tsunoda, (2020, eds.) COVID-19 and Social Work: A Collection of Country Reports, July 2020, available online at COVID-19-and-Social-Work-Country-Reports

Dominelli, Lena, Harrikari, Timo, Mooney, Joseph., Leskosek, Vesna and Kennedy Tsunoda, Erin (2020, eds.) COVID-19 and Social Work: A Collection of Country Reports, July 2020, available online at IASSW-COVID-19-and-Social-Work-Country-Reports

Harrikari, Timo (2020) Pandemian vaikutukset väestön hyvinvointiin (Impact of Coronavirus pandemic to the Welfare of Finnish Population). In Antti Pelkonen (ed.) COVID-19 tutkimuskatsaus/Research review 6/2020 Helsinki: Valtioneuvoston kanslia, 11–15.

Harrikari, Timo (2020) Pandemian vaikutukset väestön hyvinvointiin (Impact of Coronavirus pandemic to the Welfare of Finnish Population). In Antti Pelkonen (ed.) COVID-19 tutkimuskatsaus/Research review 5/2020 Helsinki: Valtioneuvoston kanslia, 11–15.

Harrikari, Timo (2020) Pandemian vaikutukset väestön hyvinvointiin (Impact of Coronavirus pandemic to the Welfare of Finnish Population). In Antti Pelkonen (ed.) COVID-19 tutkimuskatsaus/Research review 4/2020 Helsinki: Valtioneuvoston kanslia, 11–15.

Harrikari, Timo (2020) Pandemian vaikutukset väestön hyvinvointiin (Impact of Coronavirus pandemic to the Welfare of Finnish Population). In Antti Pelkonen (ed.) COVID-19 tutkimuskatsaus/Research review 3/2020 Helsinki: Valtioneuvoston kanslia, 11–15.

Harrikari, Timo (2020) Pandemian vaikutukset väestön hyvinvointiin (Impact of Coronavirus pandemic to the Welfare of Finnish Population) In Antti Pelkonen (ed.) COVID-19 tutkimuskatsaus/Research review 2/2020 Helsinki: Valtioneuvoston kanslia, 11–15.

Harrikari, Timo (2020) Pandemian muut terveysvaikutukset (Impact of Coronavirus pandemic to Health of Finnish Population). In Antti Pelkonen (ed.) COVID-19 tutkimuskatsaus/Research review 1/2020 Helsinki: Valtioneuvoston kanslia, 11–15.

Presentations in workshops and other public speeches

Humanitarian crises and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Presented at the seminar celebrating the 40 years of The Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Lapland. Sanna Hautala, Vera Fiorentino and Marjo Romakkaniemi, 9 December 2022.

Social work during COVID-19: Glocal Perspectives Symposium. 24 and 25 November 2022.

Sosiaalityön aamukahvit/SOCOM. Sosiaalityö ja koronaviruspandemia. Sosiaalityöntekijöiden hyvinvointi ja työyhteisöt pandemian 1. aallon aikana. (Social Work and the COVID-19 -pandemic. Social Workers' well being and working communities.) Sanna Saraniemi. 6 April, 2022.

Sosiologiapäivät. Pandemioiden hallinta ja demokratia-työryhmä: Haavoittuvaisessa asemassa olevien ihmisten toimijuus COVID 19-pandemian aikana. (The Agency of the most vulnerable people during the COVID-19-pandemic.) Sanna Saraniemi, Timo Harrikari, Marjo Romakkaniemi & Vera Fiorentino, Lapin yliopisto. 24 March, 2022.

Pohjois-Suomen sosiaalialan osaamiskeskuksen (POSKE) ja Lapin yliopiston sosiaalityön oppiaineen työkokous. Koronaviruspandemia ja sosiaalityö - glokaalit haasteet ja ratkaisut. ( COVID-19-pandemic and Social Work- Glocal Challenges and Solutions.) Marjo Romakkaniemi. 9 December, 2021.

Reflections on the international and Nordic social work practice and research in the pandemic settings. Open international webinar “Social Work and pandemic”, World Social Work Day, 16 March, 2021.

Pandemia, hyvinvointi ja sosiaalityö (Pandemic, welfare and social work), Huoltaja Foundation Webinar, 11 December, 2020.

Koronaviruspandemia, sosiaalityö ja sen asiakkaat – haasteita ja ratkaisuja (Coronavirus pandemic, Social Work and its Clients _ Challenges and Solutions), SOCCA-webinar 16 September, 2020

Viruspandemiat ja sosiaalityön haasteet tiivistyneen modernin aikakaudella (Pandemics and the Challenges of Social Work in an Era of Compressed Modernity), Webinar of Central Union of Child Welfare (Lastensuojelun keskusliiton Webinaari), 27 May, 2020.

Media Coverage

2022

Fiorentino Vera (2022) What Happens in Social Work during Antisocial Times? DIgitally Mediated Social Work: the COVID19 -pandemic and encountering clients. https://sosdigi.weebly.com/blogi

2021

Pandemia lisäsi sosiaalialan työntekijöiden työnkuormitusta merkittävästi - professori: he kantavat viimesijaista vastuuta ihmisten elämästä (The pandemic increased the workload of social welfare professionals - professor: they bear responsibility for people's lives) yle.fi/uutiset

Ovaskainen Sanna, Tiitinen Laura, Harrikari Timo & Romakkaniemi Marjo (2021) Sosiaalityö oli kovilla pandemiakeväänä 2020. (Social work faced difficult times during the pandemic spring of 2020.) Haaste: Asiantuntevasti rikoksentorjunnasta ja kriminaalipolitiikasta. 21 (1). rikoksentorjunta.fi/-/haaste

Sosiaalityön vahvuus koetellaan kriiseissä (The strength of social work is put into test in crises) https://www.talentia-lehti.fi/sosiaalityon-vahvuus-koetellaan-kriiseissa/

International Collaboration and Research Infrastructure

University of Tallinn, Estonia

University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia

University of Ljubjana, Slovenia

University of Alicante, Spain

University of Lund, Sweden

University of London, Royal Holloway, the United Kingdom

University College of Dublin, Ireland

University of Turin, Italy

Hogeschool PXL, Belgium

Metropolitan University Tokyo, Japan

Research Team

Dr. Timo Harrikari, Professor of Social work and PI.

Dr. Sanna Hautala, Professor of Social work and project leader.

Dr. Sanna Saraniemi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow.

Dr. Marjo Romakkaniemi, Senior Research Fellow.

Ms. Soc. Sc. Vera Fiorentino, Junior Research Fellow.

B.Soc.Sc. Tuomas Leppiaho, Research Assistant

COVID-19 Social Work Research Forum

The network consists of 50 social work researchers from 30 different countries. The purpose of the forum is to promote research on social work in pandemic settings during and after the pandemic, to provide opportunities for international research cooperation and to coordinate the activities of the network. The PANDA research team organises COVID-19 Social Work Research Forum activities through MS Teams platform.

If you are interested in to join the Forum, please, send your request to Professor Timo Harrikari (timo.harrikari@ulapland.fi)

Funding

Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, 453 000 euros (1.1.2021–31.12.2022)

Researchers

Timo Harrikari

Professor
University of Lapland
Faculty of Social Sciences, Social Work
Rovaniemi, Finland
Tel: +358 (0)44 474 4340
forename.surname@ulapland.fi

Sanna Saraniemi

PhD, University lecturer
University of Lapland
Faculty of Social Sciences, Social Work
Rovaniemi, Finland
Tel: +358 (0)44 4744305
forename.surname@ulapland.fi

Marjo Romakkaniemi

PhD, University lecturer
University of Lapland
Faculty of Social Sciences, Social Work
Rovaniemi, Finland
Tel: +358 (0) 40 484 4184
forename.surname@ulapland.fi

Sanna Hautala

Professor
University of Lapland
Faculty of Social Sciences, Social Work
Rovaniemi, Finland
Tel: +358 (0) 40 484 4187
forename.surname@ulapland.fi

Vera Fiorentino

Ms. Soc. Sc., Junior Research Fellow
University of Lapland
Faculty of Social Sciences, Social Work
Rovaniemi, Finland
Tel: +358 (0)40 659 8036
forename.surname@ulapland.fi

Tuomas Leppiaho

B. Soc. Sc., Research Assistant
University of Lapland
Faculty of Social Sciences,Political Sciences and Sociology
Rovaniemi, Finland
forename.surname@ulapland.fi