Encountering Young People in Detached Youth Work in Finland

Abstract

In this article we explore the encounters between young people and youth workers in detached youth work (conducted outside of youth centers and schools). We ask: (1) How should the diversity of environments in detached youth work be considered? (2) How do the three dimensions of encounter appear in detached youth work? The research data is based on observations, interviews, and reports. The environment is shown to influence the way in which youth workers can engage with young people. Understanding and meeting young people’s needs requires particular sensitivity and often a chain of everyday encounters, targeted prevention and intervention.

Keywords:

• Detached youth work
• encountering
• young people
• everyday encounters
• targeted prevention
• interventions
• Finland

Ethics statement

Throughout the study, from planning to reporting, we followed the ethical principles of research with human participants and ethical review in the human sciences published by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK (2019). Before collecting the data, the researcher explained the purpose of the study to the participants and informed them of the level of commitment required from them. Participants were also assured that their individual responses would be kept confidential. Verbal or written consent was obtained from the participants. According to the guidelines of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK (2019, pp. 19–23), an external ethical review is not required in this type of study.

Strengths and limitations

The role of the researcher is always important when the trustworthiness of the study is considered. Our analysis and interpretations are partly affected by our professional histories. The first author, in particular, has extensive professional experience in the field of youth work as both a practitioner and researcher. However, during both the collection and analysis of data for this study, the first author was conscious of her role and ability to understand youth work. We have tried to ensure the trustworthiness of this research, both by collecting material using different methods and striving for pluralism, and by collecting and analyzing the material individually and in teams, as a dialogue between researchers, and by reflecting on interpretations with youth workers. In addition, when making interpretations and during the writing process, the results were examined in relation to previous studies. Since the research has been carried out in different locations in different parts of the country, we feel that the results can be used quite widely in the field of youth work.

Declaration of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Open access youth work facilities for young people during their leisure time, buildings called “youth centres”, in some countries “youth houses” or “youth clubs” (Youth Wiki: Europe’s Encyclopedia of National Youth Policies (europa.eu).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture