Browsing by discipline "Home economics"
Now showing items 41-60 of 202
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(2019)Aims. Reducing meat consumption has been a common topic of conversation in the media and in the scientific community. There are multiple reasons for reducing meat consumption. Often the choice to eat vegetarian meals or reduce meat consumption is motivated by health, environment or ethics. According to previous studies, women are more willing to reduce their meat consumption than men. In addition, women often take more responsibility of the home cooked meals. Living in a relationship is known to influence individual’s food habits. In this study answers were sought for questions such as why and how women use plant-based protein products and how do these products fit in to the relationship and family life. The aim of this study is to analyse the attitudes that women who use plant proteins have towards such products and towards vegetarian diet in general. Secondly, this study explores these women’s motivation for their food choices in general as well as for choosing vegetarian diet. The study also examines how the women arrange food preparation and eating in their homes and what kind of possibilities do they have on reducing meat consumption even more. Data and methods. Nine women age 25-40, living in Uusimaa, Finland took part in the study. All women lived either in a relationship or with their families. The data was collected using semi-structured interviews and photo elicitation. The interviewees took photos of vegetarian dishes that they had eaten before the interview. Photos were used as a conversation starter and as a motivation tool. Interviews were recorded and the recordings transcribed. The data was analysed using theory-guided content analysis. Results and discussion. The most important reasons for choosing food from omnivore diet were the taste of food and its easiness and quickness to prepare. Vegetarian food choices were explained mostly by environmental factors, health and ethics. The reasons for choosing omnivore food and for choosing vegetarian food were thus different. The opinions towards new plant-based protein products varied. The interviewees who lived in a relationship did not experience major difficulties in adopting vegetarian food into their eating. In contrast, those women who had children felt that different food preferences caused some difficulties in the family. According to this study men’s food habits are influenced by women’s desire to eat vegetarian food. Getting a spouse to eat vegetarian food does not seem to be an issue for youngish and relatively highly educated couples and families.
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(2018)The purpose of this study was to examine how Home Economics as a school subject is arranged in grades 1-6 in mainland Finland and how distribution of lesson hours and curriculum varied between schools. Also, teachers qualification requirements and teaching facilities at schools were examined. The aim of the study was collect all the national information in one place, analyze the data and present the current state of Home Economics in grades 1-6. This was a descriptive and a quantitative study where quantative and qualitative methods were used. The research data was collected with a survey cooperated with Finnish national agency for education. The scope of this study was all schools in mainland Finland where grades 1-6 were taught (N=2004). Statistical analysis with SPSS-program, content analysis and quantification were used to analyze the collected data. The results show, that the schools that responded to the survey offered Home Economics in grades 1-6 only marginally. Only 8,6 % of schools that taught grades 1-6 and 10,9% of schools that taught grades 1-9 had Home Economics studies for grades 1-6. The biggest obstacles for not offering Home Economics were the lack of teaching facilities, resources and the fact that the local education authorities didn't hold mandatory to have Home Economics for local curriculum. In addition, the results show that the lack of a teacher eligibility in the subject was an obstacle even if the qualification requirements criteria were met. Home Economics in schools with grades 1-6 were mostly taught by class teachers and schools where grades were between 1-9 by subject teachers. If the classroom for Home Economics was unavailable, Home Economics teaching was organized in more diverse learning environments in the respondent schools with grades 1-6 than schools with grades 1-9. The results show that Home Economics for grades 1-6 has not yet gained a strong foothold in mainland Finland. This study is important for the society because it serves Degree Programme in Home Economics Teacher Education, teachers continuing education and evaluation and development of curriculum for basic education.
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(2015)The purpose of this study is to describe the thoughts that the catering staff, nurses and elderly people have about successful mealtime, the fulfilment of self-determination and power-relations in institutional food service. The theoretical framework for this study is based on the idea of mealtimes as a homelike situation and the positive influences it has on the quality of life (Nijs, et al., 2006). Social aspect is also considered to be part of successful mealtime (Holm, 2001) as well as the possibility to have emotionally evoking food (Suominen & Jyväkorpi, 2012). The definition of self-determination is based on the ethical views and principles of law. Power-relations are viewed through Ylva Mattsson Sydner's dissertation (2002), which is based on investigating power-relations in Swedish elderly care. Power-relations are also viewed from other aspects it has in elderly care. Data collection method is as semi-structured theme-based-interview. Twelve people participated in the interview. The analysis of the research was done by content-analysis. The theoretical philosophy of the research was loosely based on phenomenology-hermeneutics which meant that in this research all the participants' experiences were considered to be equal. Successful mealtime included factors related to the atmosphere and social interactions between elderly people. Food had to be tasty and nurses requested more meals that were based on the resident's wishes. Nurses also mentioned they hoped to reduce the time-orientation that elderly people seemed to have. In general the feeling of rush was hoped to be reduced. Elderly people felt they could not carry-out self-determination per se, whereas nurses and catering staff felt it was possible. The catering staff seemed to have the most power in determining what kind of meals are offered in the institutions. The least power was indicated to the group that the interviewee was representing. The responsibility of developing the catering in the institutional care was pointed out through macro- and microlevels. Parliament, social welfare and health care, city, the management of the institution, the catering staff in the institutions as well as the nurses and the elderly were seen as responsible of the development.
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(2020)Previous studies have found that sustainability education leaves room for interpretation. Food has been found to be a good means to increase pupils’ understanding of sustainable development. Food as a topic is part of the content of many school subjects and thus it connects the whole school community. School dining has also been seen to have potential as a teaching resource with idle opportunities. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the implementation of sustainability education and school dining in interdisciplinary cooperation. This study aims to find out how sustainability education is understood, how food and school dining could be used more extensively as part of sustainability education across disciplines, and what opportunities and challenges can be seen in interdisciplinary collaboration. A qualitative research strategy was used to analyse the topic. The data consists of theme interviews with nine subject teachers and five food service managers. The data was analysed using thematic analysis, qualitative content analysis and the concept of accounts. Sustainability education was interpreted from the aspects of transversal competence, phenomenal learning and value and attitude education. Food was seen to be a versatile tool and theme to approach the aspects of sustainable development. Also challenges were seen in sustainability education, which were explained to be caused by lack of time and educational material and by the age of pupils and the interpretability of sustainability education. Interviewees saw interdisciplinary cooperation as a useful way of sharing ideas and maintaining a good atmosphere in the school community. Challenges were also seen in it, which were explained by the lack of time, separate plans, and by the challenges in personal chemistry. Educational opportunities were seen in school dining, which interviewees saw could be used through cooperation and by adding more time and resources to it. Interdisciplinary cooperation and the use of food in sustainability education seems to require further development and more time and materials to support the work in schools. A review of the three-level model of food sense from the perspective of the goals of sustainability education shows that it can also be used as a pedagogical model. Further research is needed to find out if the pedagogical model can work also in action.
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(2020)Goals This qualitative thesis researches the linguistically responsible home economics counseling. The purpose is to describe, define and interpret how the home economics counseling could be developed, so that it reaches the immigrants who have just started learning Finnish. moreover, the thesis focuses on in what kind of means can be used to improve the comprehensibility of communication. Home economics pedagogy outside the formal education has rarely been studied from the perspective of linguistic responsibility in Finland. The data were collected from two nature excursions by voice recordings and applying a method of linguistic responsive observation (Ahlholm, 2017). From both excursions, the communication of two home economics teachers, two participants and myself, were audiorecorded. The data consists of 10 recordings, varying from 1 hour 47 minutes to 2 hours 13 minutes in length. In addition, written field notes of observations were gathered from both excursions. The data were analysed and thematized with a qualitative content analysis. Results and conclusions. Various situations linked to linguistic awareness and communication arose from the material, including translanguaging, solving situations where figures of speech are misunderstood, decoding difficult concepts, interpreting experiences through culture and challenging situations for teachers. Clear and understandable home economics counseling is based on seven different aspects: simplified language, clarifying by demonstrating, clarifying by repetition, the use of metaphors, utilising tools, teacher’s interaction and counseling situations which are pedagogically responsibly designed. In the light of this research, the development of home economics counseling towards a more linguistically aware approach seems to require, in addition to professionalism and will, all actors’ interest in linguistic interaction.
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(2014)Aims. Purpose of this study was investigate how home economy teachers see bullying in their work and what kind of preparedness they have. Earlier studies have shown that bullying in school is quite common. Despite the fact that bullying has been widely noticed in media, there haven't find explicit ways to intervene. Bullying in home economics classroom haven't been studied before. Home economics as a school subject differs from other theoretical subjects and that is the reason why ways of bullying might be different. In this study we tried to find out what kinds of bullying exist in home economics classroom, how teachers intervene it and what kind of preparedness teachers experience they have. Bullying phenomenon is very diverse so study's framework consist of perceiving bullying phenomena, describing nature of home economics and exposing teacher's preparedness. Methods. The material of study was collected with nine open questions questionnaire. There were also few background questions. Questionnaires were send digitally to home economics teachers who were teaching in high schools and belong in mailing list of Home economics union, Facebook group called Home economics teachers or Home economics and those who's e-mail address were find from websites of large cities Finnish speaking schools. 44 answers were received and 6 of them by mail. Work experience of answerers varies from less than a year to 34 years. Material were analysed using content analysis. Results and conclusions. In this study noticed that there were specific features of bullying in home economics classroom. For example pupils free moving, plenty of equipment, opportunity to danger situations, rush and the fact that there happens so much at the same time in a classroom. Teachers feel that their preparedness were mainly good. Young teachers were most unhappy about their preparedness. Education doesn't give enough preparedness to intervene bullying, but working experience and own children does. Teachers intervene bullying by discussion with bully, victim and their parents. When needed also help of other agents and punishments.
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(2017)Eating together is on change. The studies and the media are discussing the disappearance of family meals and the sociability of eating. At the same time there is an on-going discussion of new kinds of eating together where the traditional family meal is not the only option to eat together. Finns appreciate eating together and they want to promote the culture of eating together in Finland right now. Eating together has been chosen as one of the Finland's centenary themes. Eating together has also a strong visibility in food recommendations to families with children, published in 2016 and in school lunch recommendations, published in January 2017. The social dimension of eating has started to rise alongside the nutrition debate. The aim of this study was to examine what kind of views and experiences seventh graders have about eating together. Seventh graders are an interesting research object, as previous studies have shown that secondary school time is critical in terms of adolescents eating habits. According to previous studies the influence of peer group is significant to adolescents eating. While growing up adolescents start to eat less with their families and make more independent food choices. The qualitative data were collected in a secondary school in the Finnish metropolitan area in November 2016. The data consists of theme interviews with seventh graders. They were carried out during the home economics lessons. A group of 14 seventh graders (9 girls and 5 boys) participated the study. The interviews were transcribed and the data were analyzed by using thematizing. The interviewed adolescents considered eating together as a social event, during which they enjoy food and talk together with other diners. Eating together and alone were both parts of adolescents everyday lives. The results are partly in line with the results of previous studies handling eating of adolescents. The interviewed adolescents most common dining environments were home and school. Rush in everyday life created challenges to eat together in families of adolescents. At school, important to adolescents was eating together with their peers and eating school lunch had decreased in secondary school. Adolescents didn't experience a peer group to have an impact on their eating. Among other things, these results have been revealed by earlier research. Contrary to my hypothesis, it was interesting that the interviewed adolescents were daily eating together with their families and they were not used to eat with their friends at their free time. The adolescents didn't mention to try to avoid family meals but they told to eat with their families whenever everyday schedule allows.
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(2017)Objectives: The purpose of this master's thesis is to study the everyday life of homes, based on the articles published in Helsingin Sanomat. The articles were published in 2005-2015. The focus for the research was the "Kodin arki" article collection (Janhunen-Abruquah [ed.] 2009. It was decided to analyse the articles in Helsingin Sanomat (HS) because it is the widest newspaper by its circulation in Finland and the articles were also available as digital material. The theoretical part of this thesis is focused on everyday life, on the changes of it within society and on the research done on the subject. The research questions are the following: 1. In which style is the everyday life of homes written about? 2. Which themes of everyday life are brought up in the articles? 3. Which common factors can be found from the themes brought up from the writings of the everyday life at home? The study consisted of 33 articles from Helsingin Sanomat and were intended to provide a comprehensive overview of the image created by one media representative regarding the everyday life. By analysing an overview of the individual articles, a more reliable description of the media style becomes visible and the result may also differ from the type of image the random may form. Methodology: The methodology used in this research is of qualitative and descriptive. The method used in analysing the data is content analysis. Since the content of the articles always represents a wide range of perspectives and the different connections between various matters, it is important to remember that in this type of research these matters are described as accurately as possible and interpreted in a variety of ways. People's experiences of the data vary and consequently the causes and consequences are of diverse nature. In contrast to qualitative research which does not aim at statistical generalizations but instead aims at describing phenomena or events, in understanding a particular activity or in giving a theoretical interpretation of a phenomenon. Results and conclusions: Home and everyday life are much analysed subjects in the media, including the press. HS writings also deal with these topics from many different perspectives. Everyone has one's own experiences and opinions on the topic in question. The topics which HS and other media chooses to write on modifies the opinions of the citizens, raising certain issues and topics which are being discussed in different contexts in the society. The everyday life at homes is reflected in HS articles as a busy and effective activity or as a continuous struggle on everyday basis, such as social or interpersonal relationships. The readers are told of everyday experiences which are familiar to many working adults. Eleven articles were discovered out of the data and four of them were summed up. These were as follows: skills, the endurance, the actions and the environment. These themes appeared in all articles with a slightly different emphasis on the type of writing and could be seen as aggregating factors in the context of everyday life in HS.
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(2018)It was studied how the co-operation between home and school is shown in national groundschool curriculum (2014). The goal was to find out how the roles of different actors in co-operation between home and school are shown in curriculum. What kinds of forms of co-operation are risen from the curriculum and is there differences in co-operation between subjects. The material of this study was used the national groundschool curriculum (2014). The study is a content analysis study based on a document. The material was analysed using quality analysis methods, mainly using the theme grouping. Nine different themes were found from the material, with which the study questions were answered. According to the curriculum the parents of a child should be involved into the school activities. One of the most important tasks of parents is seen their involvement in the creation and development of schools culture of operations. However, there are no concrete models of action, but the maintenance and active operations of co-operation is left for schools. The importance of the co-operation between home and school is emhazised when offering support for learning and with studies of languages such as finnish, another native language of a student or a foreign language. Also in pupil councelling and home economics the co-operation between home and school is emhasized. The co-operation between home and school supports the normal growth and development of a child, thus also learning. There are several different modes of action for co-operation between home and school but in ordinary days the co-operation is mainly one directional communication and information.
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(2006)The aim of this research is to study the boundary zone of home and work and the tensions people experience while reconciling home and work? How are the requirements of the family, the home and the work taken care of in everyday life? What kind of difficulties does the individual experience when reconciling home activities and job requirements together? What kind of activity policies have families created to ease the everyday life? What kind of goals and requirements do families feel behind the difficulties in adjusting home and work? What kind of changes would make the adjusting of home and work easier? The changing family life, everyday home activities and the changing Finnish working life are studied to describe the adjusting of home and work. In addition the boundary zone of home and work and its tensions are studied. 337 research persons who find reconciling home and work challenging were elected from different sectors of the working life. Research persons were gathered from the public, private and third sectors. The research material was gathered with a semi-structured qualitative questionnaire published in internet. Contents analysis was the analysis method of the research material. The tensions of adjusting home and work are various. Several activity systems meet on the boundary zone of home and work causing boundary zones to expand and tensions to increase and expand like a network. In the everyday life of an individual the boundary zone fades out and home and work overlap. Tensions can be examined as internal conflicts of the individual through the activity system of everyday life. Individuals balance between individualism and familism, feeling bad, suffering from lack of time and struggling with childcare organizing problems and inflexible employers. The solutions to reconciling home and work difficulties are situational. Often is the help of family and friends required without any solid solutions. The conflict of the goals, requirements and the reality is behind the problems as well as the tightening terms of the working life and its growing expectations. Change requests are proposed on the levels of individual, home, work and the society. Reconciling home and work is not only a challenge between the employee and the employer. It's a problem that needs multilateral solutions and changes on the levels of individual, home, work and society. The challenge remaining is to find out if it would be successful to take the everyday life as starting point to negotiate the reconciling of home and work and how the possible family, social and work political solutions appear in everyday life.
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(2015)Aims. Household cleaning has not been studied in recent years. The first aim of this study was to gain up to date information about household cleaning practices and attitudes. The second aim was to type people's cleaning habits by analyzing their cleaning practices. The third aim was to find out whether people need additional information about household cleaning. The research questions were: 1) What kind of cleaning practises do households have? 1.1) Is it possible to type people's cleaning practices? 2) What kind of attitudes towards cleaning do people have? 3) Do people need additional information about household cleaning? Methods. An internet questionnaire was used to collect the data. The questionnaire contained structured questions and one open question. The questionnaire was answered by 2797 respondents. The data was analyzed by using the SPSS-software. The description of the data was carried out by studying frequencies. Quantitative methods used in this study were the one-way analysis of variance and the exploratory factor analysis. The open question was analyzed qualitatively by using classification. Results and conclusions. By studying cleaning practices two types of cleaning frequencies were found. The first one was maintenance cleaning carried out often and the second one was basic cleaning done more rarely. Different cleaner types for example habit-oriented and easy-going cleaners could be found by studying cleaning practices. By analyzing the respondents' cleaning attitudes a segmentation into clean-oriented cleaners and order-oriented cleaners could be made. Environmentally friendly cleaning was one of the subjects on which people wanted to get additional information. The time spent on cleaning in households is 1–4 hours per week. In two thirds of the households cleaning was primarily carried out by a female family member. Cleaning practices are largely inherited from childhood home. Cleaning practices are influenced by environmental factors, social environment, society's cleaning standards, values, norms and personal attitudes. The results of this study can be used in home economics teaching as well as in organizations providing household cleaning advice.
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(2016)The release of Finnish nutrition recommendations in 2014 has caused a lot of debate both in public discourse and in various medias. The debate around food and nutrition reflects into people's attitudes and is therefore relevant issue to be discussed in the field of home economics science. The purpose of nutrition education in schools is, among other things, to share knowledge from different view-points of nutrition. How adolescents experience the discourse of nutrition and the status of home economics in nutritional education are vital topics in the field of home economics. The purpose of this thesis is to examine upper secondary school students' and nutrition experts' viewpoints on the Finnish nutrition discourse. The empirical analysis of the study is based on two sets of data: 37 essays of nutrition written by students and five theme interviews conducted with nutrition experts. The purpose of the essays and the interviews was to map out the responders' experiences of and viewpoints on the Finnish discourse regarding nutritional knowledge. I also wanted to examine the experts' images over the status of home economics education in nutrition education. The data were analyzed by qualitative research content analysis. The results show that both students and nutrition experts comprehend the nutrition discourse as a highly tensed phenomenon, where both experimental and scientific based knowledge argue. This perception endorses previous research results. The students acknowledge science as the basis of nutrition knowledge but still consider that experimental expertise is needed to adapt nutrition knowledge into action. The nutrition experts call for more critical thinking into nutrition education. Culture related to food education in schools should also be more coherent. The experts consider that the teaching of home economics has a small but still visible status on contributing the healthy diet of adolescents.
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(2016)Neoliberalisms influence is growing in today's society and responsibilities are moved from the state to its citizens. Individuals own capabilities are now more important than ever. Financial capabilities are especially important. Before responsibilities can be transferred to individuals, it must be ensured that citizens have sufficient capabilities. At the moment this is not so. Finnish basic education is a great place to teach necessary financial capabilities with the help of financial education. Financially capable individuals want to and can operate actively and responsibly in different financial environments. The current knowledge on the effects of financial education or the level of financial capabilities of our youths is not sufficient. In this thesis I studied the effects of ten Me & MyCity lessons on financial capabilities. Financial capabilities were narrowed to informational level. I tried to find out how financial capabilities improve and are there differences between genders. With help of some earlier tests I constructed a survey consisting of 30 objective multiple choice items to test my research questions. 207 students from 11 different school classes answered my survey. 171 students answered the survey both before and after Me & MyCity lessons and 170 answers were eligible for further analyses. All students participated in the Me & MyCity in Helsinki-Vantaa in the spring of 2016. To test the suitability of my test I did item analysis and IRT analysis. The result was that my test was sufficient in the scale of this research. The test should be improved if used in forthcoming research. Three items that were not functioning correctly were removed from the test. The test was slightly easy and therefore didn't differentiate better students as well as it could have. The development of financial capabilities was tested with paired samples T test. The differences between genders were tested with a T test. Financial capabilities improved by 15,6%. The progression was varied between sub-factors. Gender did not affect the results. Answers stating "I don't know" decreased by 52% in the second questionnaire. The increase of correct answers was significantly lower. Me & MyCity improves financial capabilities at least on informational level. The progression was low level, although this may be partly caused by the incorrect calibration of the research instrument. Education is transforming from teaching singular skills and subjects towards teaching holistic capabilities. Effective methods are required both for this transformation and to supervise its results. Me & MyCity is in part specialized to financial education and is therefore a good place to start improving financial education and the measurement of financial capability.
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(2020)Goal. There is only little Finnish research about smart home technology studied from user’s experience. The aim of this thesis is to find how early adopters use technology in smart homes and what types of benefits and challenges living in a smart home create. Additionally, the thesis describes experiences of living in a smart home compared to living in a traditional home. The use and experiences of smart home technologies are interpreted in the light of home economics science's framework focusing on skills, knowledge and functionality. Methods. The study has been carried out by using a qualitative research strategy. The research material consists of six semi-structured phone interviews. The interview frame consists of six themes based on the research questions. Interviewees were men aged 25 to 45 representing different parts of Finland, and they all lived in smart homes. The qualitative analysis has been done via thematical classification and coding, and by applying ethnographical methods to content analysis. The findings about the use of smart homes are described in relation to the different phases of use. The experiences of living in a smart home are described in relation to living in a traditional home while placing the comparison to a larger context of home. Results and findings. According to the results, the implementation of smart home solutions is primarily a hobby for people interested about the subject. Smart home solutions are implemented primarily to address a singular and specific need. Adapting a solution to use calls for functionality, usability, and acceptable price level from the smart home products. Typical problems in a smart home are challenges related to functionality and maintenance. The functions of a smart home can be seen mainly corresponding to those of a traditional home, but some functions have traits present in service accommodations. In general, smart homes meet the requirements imposed on them and the needs of their inhabitants.
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(2016)Objectives. The purpose of this study is to identify factors associated with the housing of the family of children with autism spectrum. Housing services aimed of people with autism spectrum often pay attention to sense sensibility, but in a standard apartment the same consideration might require housing modifications. Since the people with autism spectrum typically have hypersensitivity and/or hyposensitivity of the senses, one of the research questions was: do these atypical sensory reactions increase the need for housing modifications. In addition to that, the research also aimed to chart the housing needs of the families of the children with autism spectrum and what kind of solutions made in the construction stage of homes could reduce the need for housing modifications and increase the suitability of the homes for the families. Methods. The research was conducted as a qualitative research. The data was collected through an online questionnaire. 75 participants responded to the questionnaire, in addition a pilot interview was attached to the data. Responses included a total of 82 autistic children and their families. The data was processed using the Atlas.ti program. At the initial stage, the material was encoded in a transparent manner. In the final stage, the created code words were used to create a thematic network, which displayed the data's most often emerged themes. In addition, the research aimed to chart the need for modifications. Results and conclusions. The data showed that the needs of the families of children with autism spectrum for housing development aspirations are very similar, as other families with children. Concerns about safety and the need for space were two of the three main themes arosen from the data. In addition, one of the themes that arose was the world of sound in homes, especially the sound stimuli. Based on the data multi-family homes experienced a sound insulation problem. Sound insulation investing in the construction phase would serve autistic families and reduce the need for housing modifications. Based on the data, more flexible residential solutions to serve the needs of autistic families and would reduce the need for housing modifications or moving.
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(2014)Objectives. Regardless of the era, people have been always celebrating different occasions. Celebration has signified the division of continuously flowing time into ordinary and sacred. At the same time, continual reminiscent rituals have answered the humane need to feel control over life and foresee future. The celebration has also strengthened the social cohesion between the individuals who take part in it. Christmas is a celebration that intensely influences the whole society time and again. Even though Christmas seems to have stayed unchanged throughout the centuries, closer analysis reveals that there can be seen different layers from different parts of history. It contains elements from pre-Christian times, medieval peasant traditions, and 1900th century familial. There is substantial amount of literary about Christmas but very little recent academic research on this subject. The purpose of this study is to examine how Christmas is celebrated in contemporary families and what kind of meanings are connected to it. Through these meanings, it can be understood why Christmas is celebrated. Methods. The research material for this study was collected with essays. Before the essay itself, there was a small priming quantitative part. Parents who had at least one child of primary school age acted as informant. In this study, the methods of content analysis were applied. After this, the synthesis on which all the conclusions are based was formed. Results and conclusions. The preparations for Christmas and Christmas Eve itself form the structured part of Christmas. This part moves forward as chronological and predictable chain of events. In the descriptions of Christmas Eve, same elements are repeated nearly in the same order. From these descriptions, a story which connects all the writings can be formed. This kind of story can also be called narrative. After this programmed part, the form of the celebration turns into casual and there is time for those things which are experienced as the most paramount meaning of Christmas – resting and being together with the closed ones. From the descriptions of Christmas, all the functions of celebration can be found. It divided time, strengthened the bonds towards own community, and its repetitive pattern provided safety. From this point of view, it is not surprising that Christmas has maintained its vitality regardless of societal situation.
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(2016)Aims. Eating behaviour in early childhood is known to influence the health and well-being throughout life. Factors influencing the formation of children's food preferences can be either innate or learned. The two most important environments where eating habits are learned are home and preschool. The purpose of this study was to find out what kind of food education is provided at home and in preschool environment. The aim was also to examine the interaction between these two environments. This study also examines how child's personality affects food education. This study is a part of a larger DAGIS-research program that investigates the health of preschool aged children. Methods. The study was conducted as a qualitative study. The data was collected by DAGIS-research team by conducting focus groups in autumn 2014. A total of ten discussions were held with 17 parents and 14 preschool personnel. The data was analysed with qualitative content analysis. Theoretical framework of this study was a socioecological model Results and conclusions. The results show that food education at home is mostly executed by parents' own example during family meals. It was also shown that some parents thought that "common sense" was the best guideline for food education. Food education was also executed by rules and forbiddances. This study shows that in preschool food education is carried out with the help of peer group and by having shared meal times. Preschool personnel also highlighted the importance of child's personality and individuality. The results show that most of the parents and preschool personnel feel that parents are mainly responsible for child's food education. However there was also a group of parents who thought that preschool has the biggest responsibility of child's food education. Interaction between home and preschool seems to be quite minimal and superficial.
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(2019)Previous research shows signs of gender inequality in comprehensive school, such as gender-based classifications and stereotypes. The assessments of learning outcomes have raised the issue of equality in education, as on the basis of them, girls succeeded over boys in most of the subjects. In addition, these assesments show that in home economics girls´ results were better than boys´ results. This study explores the teaching practices associated above-average learning outcomes of home economics, taking gender differences into account. The aim was to research which teaching practices, on the basis of home economics assessment data, were related to above-average learning outcomes, and which factors explained the differences from students´ and teachers´ perspective. The data is part of the national assessment of learning outcomes in home economics, which took place in 2014 (Venäläinen & Metsämuuronen, 2015). The student data consists of 3541 9th grade students and the teacher data of 163 home economics teachers. Quantitative data was analyzed by multivariate statistical methods: decision tree analysis, traditional explorative factor analysis, and linear regression analysis. As result, a good atmosphere in the classroom, sharing the grade criteria at the beginning of the course and taking the students' ideas and wishes into account were associated with the above-average learning outcomes of home economics. Based on factor analysis, the biggest influence on students' total competence had the diverse teacher (F4), who was characterized by the use of different teaching and assessment methods. The learning outcomes of boys and girls were partly influenced by different practices: boys' outcomes were also raised by a teacher who challenged their own perceptions and helped to reflect issues from the perspectives of their own life (F2). The girls' outcomes were raised by a very professional teacher (F5). To improve learning outcomes the teachers should, i. a., take the students' ideas and expectations into account and explain the criteria for the grade at the beginning of the course. Home economics education should be connected to both girls and boys everyday lives. In particular boys' learning motivation could be improved by bringing the everyday life of boys into the learning contents. Teacher education and in-service training should also ensure that teachers have up-to-date and versatile know-how for using teaching and assessment methods that take diverse learners into account.
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(2018)The meaning of food has become more diversified and the requirements for food have grown. Therefore, food choice is not easy. According to studies, the price of food is one of the three most important determinant for food choice, and its importance has increased in recent years. Household's financial and human resources either restrict or facilitate the choice of food. The purpose of this case study is to find out and describe the consumer's views on food choice with a low budget. The case of the study is a Facebook-challenge with a huge popularity and media perception. The intended of the challenge was to spend only 3.50 euros on a day per person on a healthy diet for a month. There are three research questions: 1. What kind of groups are the participants in the challenge divided about the implementation? 2. What are the meanings for the challenge written in Facebook? 3. What resources are needed to implement a low budget? The research data consists of texts that have been written in Facebook group discussions by the participants in the challenge. The data was analyzed using the content analysis. The participants in the challenge were divided into three groups according to their ways to take the challenge. "Skillful" were already in a low budget before the challenge, the "learners" changed their habits a lot, but "experimenters" were unable to achieve the challenge according to rules. All of the groups included people who learned something about the challenge or somehow benefited, so people with different resources are able to achieve a low budget challenge. The study confirmed that human resources are increasing in use. Sharing ideas with others increases social capital that helps to increase the resources of others. Observing and changing habits raises mental capital. The interchangeability of resources was also confirmed during the study. Resources to be used as a substitute for money are specially used in skills. Home economic teaching in elementary school needs to be implemented and developed to increase skills. Living in a low budget also requires support from other people, health and time. Technology and social media make new ways of getting support from other people and social capital growth.
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(2019)Objectives. Waste causes atmospheric emissions at various stages and the capacity of incinera-tors is not sufficient for the quantity of current mixed waste. Emissions and the amount of waste burned can be reduced by sorting and recycling the waste. Sorted waste can be reused or recycled into a new product, material or substance, which is the best for the environment. De-centralised waste management leaves the responsibility of waste sorting to households and companies whose sorting should be increased. Earlier research on recycling behaviour is largely quantitative and international so the study examines the recycling behaviour of Finnish house-holds with a qualitative research approach. The research task is to analyse factors influencing recycling behaviour, i.e. to identify the factors supporting or hindering waste sorting and recy-cling in households. In addition, a small-scale intervention is carried out in some households, aiming to develop recycling practices in households or housing companies and to raise aware-ness of waste sorting and recycling. The aim of the study was to identify the means to promote the sorting and recycling of household waste. Methods. Nine heterogeneous households from the Central Uusimaa (Keski-Uusimaa) region participated in the study. Households lived in row or detached houses located in the layout ar-ea, i.e. near the services, or in a remote location. The data consisted transcribed interviews and field notes and it was analyzed with a data-driven content analysis. Results and conclusions. Recycling behaviour seems to be influenced by home storage facili-ties, especially in a kitchen area, functionality of recycling practices, existence and location of external waste collection containers, individual's close proximity, actions of companies and state, personal advice, time and money, ecological values, knowhow of recycling and aware-ness of the importance of recycling. Recycling behaviour could be promoted by informing the benefits of recycling, by taking into account the facilities needed for the sorting in reconstruc-tion and in kitchen renovations, by adding more external collection points for example in con-nection with schools, settlements and most widely used grocery stores, by promoting the possi-bility of shared collections for detached houses, by raising mixed fees and by providing per-sonal advice to households. Furthermore, schools and workplaces can inspire to sort at home i.e. by acting as an example in recycling, by offering information and training events related to recycling and by giving students participatory homework in relation to waste sorting.
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