Browsing by discipline "Hushållsvetenskap"

Goals. The goal of this bachelor’s thesis is to investigate and describe 9th graders’ eating habits. Previous studies have shown that teenagers eat irregularly and skip important meals. In addition, studies show that especially boys eat less fruits and vegetables than is recommended. On the other hand, girls seem to skip more meals during the day but also consume more delicacies than boys. Based on previous studies, my hypothesis is that teenagers’ eating habits do not follow current recommendations. Many previous studies have been focusing on teenagers’ school time eating and families’ food practices but in my opinion teenagers’ eating overall needs more attention. This thesis concentrates on teenagers’ overall eating on work days: before, during and after the school day. Also, the goal is to define which factors influence teenagers eating habits. Methods. The focus group of this thesis were students on 9th grade and the data was collected using food diaries. The food diaries were collected in two different cities, in two separate schools. Altogether 20 students took part in the study, from which 9 were from Helsinki and 11 from Vantaa. The gathered data was analysed thematically and by using tabulation. Results and conclusion. Meal rhythm was quite irregular among teenagers. From all meals students skipped school lunch most frequently. Also, breakfast was skipped often but dinner instead was eaten quite regularly. Majority of students consumed fruits and vegetables daily. Eating delicacies was not as common as eating fruits and vegetables but every third ate del-icacies on a daily basis. Gender was significant factor influencing on teenagers eating habits: on average girls ate all meals scantier than boys. In addition, weekday also had a slight im-pact on students’ eating, students ate more regularly in the beginning of the week. Location of the schools also somewhat affected on students eating, for students from Helsinki ate most of their daily meals more regularly compared to students from Vantaa, but on the other hand also delicacy consumption was more frequent in Helsinki.

Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract The aim of this research is to find out what kind of snacks the girls in the primary school choose and what they consider as a healthy snack. It is important to get the ground information about the phenomenon of the snacks since there is very little previous research done in this sector. However the previous research points out that it is important to eat snacks to be able to have enough strength. The other side is that the snacks might contain too much energy and sugar. The methods. The research was carried out as a qualitative semi-structured research. The method was interview and the participants ten girls were at the moment of carrying out the interview in the fourth and the fifth grade. During the interview the girls had to point out from the collage what kinds of snacks they would choose and what kind of snacks they considered to be healthy or unhealthy. The transcription was carried out and after that the results were analyzed using the content analysis. The content analysis included reading the content many times and categorize it. Demonstrating charts and tables were formed. The results showed that the most common snack of the girls was mandarin in the school and at home sandwich. Also apple and yoghourt were common snacks. 90 per cent of girls ate snacks daily. If the girls could choose their snacks themselves they would most willingly eat carelian pie, fruits, vegetables, yoghurt, berry soup and dried fruits. The factors that were having the most impact on choosing the snacks were the girls preferences what they like and what they happened to have at home as well as the amount that they ate at lunch. When they were asked more precisely over the half were thinking that the parents and the healthiness of the food had an impact on the snack choice. The parents were controlling the snacking and they also were the ones that brought the food home. Healthiness affected in two ways to the girls’ snack choices: unhealthy food was not chosen and healthy food was chosen for a snack. The results show that the girls chose their snacks according to what happened to be available and what stayed good for longer time as well as what was easy. Allergies had an impact on two of the participants’ choices. Only thing that did not have so much an impact was friends. The participants considered healthy vegetables and grain products because they contain less sugar and many vitamins. The sweets, ice cream, pastry, crisps, puddings and pizza were considered to be unhealthy since they contain lot of sugars, salt and fats. Study's conclusion is that snacks are an important part of primary school girls’ nutrition. Girls' views on what snacks are healthy or unhealthy, are mostly consistent with the current nutritional recommendations. Girls know very well what kind of snacks are healthy or unhealthy and healthiness also affected their snack choices.

Objectives. The aim of this thesis was to analyze how everyday life is structured in student families. The second purpose was to gather information about how daily routines affect the families’ mastering of everyday life. It has been proven in many previous studies that regularity and routines support families’ day-to-day lives. Also, combining family life with studies has been shown to create many challenges. With proper knowledge and a healthy respect towards routines, some obstacles of everyday life could be prevented from occurring beforehand. Methods. This thesis was qualitative and the data was collected by interviewing mothers (n=5), who were chosen by using purposive sampling. In each of the families, at least one of the parents was studying full-time and at least one child was in a day care center. The interviews were conducted as theme interviews and the data was analyzed by using qualitative content analysis. Results and conclusions. The families organized their everyday lives by coordinating studying, work and family life. The analysis revealed several different factors which support or hinder the mastery of everyday life. Day-to-day life was mainly cyclic and weekdays consisted of six different temporal phases. On weekends, the routines and schedules were more flexible. Establishments like kindergarten and school had both positive and negative effects. The flexibility of student life eased everyday life but at the same time the incessant need to study constrained it. Kindergarten regularized life but it also brought time pressure in the mornings. The management of schedules turned out to be a notable challenge for the families, which they attempted solve by equally dividing chores, scheduling studies and regularity. According to the results, routines had positive impacts on the mastering of everyday life. They relieved the families of certain actions and decreased the feeling of rush. They also created feelings of security and predictability from the children’s point of view. Scheduling routines had a great impact on intimate relationships, spare time, study time, sleep and emotions as well as on the flow of day-to-day functions. Routines were also associated with parenting goals, such as supporting the child to become more independent and responsible. If necessary, the most important routines could be adjusted accordingly but usually the aim was to stick by some common rules. Nevertheless, better routines were consciously created and molded simultaneously as the children grew up. As for the negative effects, fully scheduled weeks can be exhausting and have an overpowering effect on the family’s comings and goings.

Abstract Aims: The aim of this study is to research, analyse and interpret how Finnish men experience the daily life and its meaning after retirement. In this context, it is also interesting to investigate how they see the transition from the working life to retirement. In the theory part, the topic is approached through the following themes: retirement, old age, the third age and the different perspectives of daily life. Methods: The study was implemented as a qualitative research interview in autumn 2016. The target group of the study was four retired Finnish men between the ages of 64 and 73. The research questions aimed to find answers on how the daily life of Finnish men changes after they retire and what the daily life holds. A theme questionnaire was used as a help in the interview. All the interviews were recorded. The interview material was transcribed immediately after each interview. The transcribed material was analysed. The background information of the interviewed men was stored in a table and the question themes based on the research questions were divided into sub-themes, the results of which were written out. Results and conclusions: The results show that work has been a very central part of life for all the interviewed men. They all thought that the meaning of work has changed for them over the years. They all had decided to take a flexible retirement option by their own choice. The men felt that they had already done their share of work. The future seems positive for the men. Physical activity is an essential part of everyday life and it has become even more important after retirement. None of the interviewed men experiences loneliness in daily life. The family, spouse, children, grandchildren as well as friends and acquaintances make the greatest impact in their life. Generally speaking, the men are satisfied with their life. Health, livelihood, family and close friends, home and security are the most important parts of life.

Continuous learning is relatively new as a concept. It is preceded by the concepts of lifelong learning, recurrent education, continuous education and lifelong education. The aim of this literature review is to find out the roots of the concept of continuous learning are.I also research how continuous learning affects the work of universities, especially in terms of its funding. I also examine how universities communicate their role in providing continuous learning. I carried out my bachelor’s thesis as a descriptive literature review and attached a section containing empiric research. As sources and material, I used both domestic and foreign research literature, publications, and the external websites of universities. In my research, the development of the concept continuous learning from lifelong education to lifelong learning and further to continuous learning emerged. The implications of the task of promoting continuous learning to university funding could also be seen. The analysis of the empiric section on the content of the universities’ continuous learning websites revealed to some extent the definition of the concept of continuous learning that I set out to find.

The goal of this paper is to discover to what end urban segregation is present within Helsinki, and which neighborhoods stand out. The research is based on the participants’ own experi-ence of how well they feel they can cover their expenses in their current situation. The rapid growth of the Helsinki metropolitan area, similar to other larger cities in Finland has raised concerns over the polarization of the housing market and the segregation of neighborhoods. This phenomenon has been the base for the research. This paper utilizes the theories of urban segregation as well as economic inequality. The material for this paper is from a survey done by Helsingin Sanomat. The survey meas-ured how satisfied people are with their current living conditions. The original sample of 13 381 answers throughout Finland was limited in this study to only those 4147 answers from Helsinki. Selecting two income-related variables and one variable for the responder’s postal code, these variables were analysed using frequency analysis. The original material con-cerned the entirety of Finland but was limited to responses from Helsinki for this paper. From the results of the study it is clear, that the experience of not having enough funds for everyday living is accentuated in certain Helsinki neighborhoods. People living in the city center and Kallio neighborhoods experienced dissatisfaction with their funds more often, as well as more strongly than most. Dissatisfaction was also significantly more common among people with low income, and the areas with most dissatisfied responders also had the largest number of low-income households.

Abstract Aims. The aims of this study was to seek new information about Finnish pleasure eating habits. I answered my two study questions using descriptive literature review as my method. The aim of my first study question was to find out why Finnish people eat delicacy and the aim of my second study question was to find out ways to reduce pleasure eating. The most important words in my study were pleasure eating, physical health, social health, psychic health, emotional eating, obesity, food recommendations, food pyramid, coincidences and pleasure. This study was needed because new Finnish FinTerveys 2017 survey showed that obesity has increased among Finnish people. Methods. As my method I used descriptive literature review. As my sources were thesis, re-searches, nonfiction works, articles, internet publications and also textbooks. Before I searched sources I defined the most important words and decided my two study questions. I separated answers to physical, psychic and social dimensions because all dimensions have factors that make Finnish eat pleasure food. Results and conclusions. There are several causes that have an effect on Finnish people´s pleas-ure eating habits. Some situations were celebrated with delicacy or love were showed for other people or for him-/herself with them. The main point of eating delicacy was to get pleasure. Emotional eater eats not because he/she is hungry but because to suppress unpleasant feelings. At those moments food choices are usually unhealthy. There was physical explanation why del-icacy gives pleasure. Sweet was the flavor that people liked naturally the most. Eating delicacy was also part of the surrounding food culture. In those cases, it seems to be difficult to refuse eating because of social pressure and people eat those certain delicacy to show that they are a part of the surrounding culture. The more people know about what food contains, healthy eating and the more motivated the person is to decrease his/her pleasure eating the more he/she succeed to decrease it or change unhealthy choices to healthier alternatives. Regular meal rhythm seem to be important to prevent horrible hunger and reckless eating at afternoon Also food choices that keep blood sugar levels steady help to reduce the lust of sweet food. Pleasure eating in social events was harder to reduce because of the social pressure. Also emotional eating was hard to reduce because it demands dealing emotions and observe his/her own eating habits.

Tieto- ja viestintäteknologian nopea kehitys on muuttanut tapaamme toimia ja olla vuorovaikutuksessa toistemme kanssa. Yhteiskunnan toimintaan osallistumiseen tarvitaan yhä monimuotoisempia teknologisia taitoja ja digitaalista osaamista. Digitaalinen murros on ollut voimakasta etenkin palvelusektorilla ja sen tuomat muutokset, esimerkiksi asioiden hoitamisessa, ovat asettaneet ihmisiä eriarvoiseen asemaan. Epätasa-arvo on nähty etenkin sukupolvien välisenä asiana, mutta siihen vaikuttaa myös sosioekonominen asema. Viitteitä siitä, että myös iällä on merkitystä tieto- ja viestintäteknologian käyttöönotossa ja käytössä, on jo löytynyt. Tulevaisuudessa ikääntymisen aiheuttamat haasteet voivat olla entistä ajankohtaisempia, sillä hallituksen tavoitteena on vuoteen 2023 mennessä siirtää kaikki julkiset palvelut digitaaliseen muotoon, jotta ne olisivat kaikkien saatavilla ja käytettävissä. Tämä voi olla haastavaa, sillä vuonna 2019 tilastokeskuksen tutkimuksessa selvisi, että 75–89-vuotiaista 50% ei ollut koskaan käyttänyt internetiä, kun sitä vastoin kaikki alle 44-vuotiaat olivat. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää kuvailevan kirjallisuuskatsauksen avulla mitkä tekijät edistävät ja estävät ikäihmisten digitaalista syrjäytymistä julkisissa asiointipalveluissa. Tutkittava aineisto koostuu aikaisemmin julkaistuista teoksista, jotka täsmentävät, jäsentävät tai ovat muulla tavalla avaavia tutkimuskysymykseen nähden. Aineisto on kerätty avainsanojen ja niiden yhdisteluiden avulla seuraavista lähteistä: Google Scholar, Helka ja Helmet. Tutkimuksen keskiössä on itsepalvelun yleistyminen julkisissa asiointipalveluissa. Ajatuksena on, että syrjäytymistä ei voi tapahtua, jos kaikilla on samat mahdollisuudet osallistua yhteiskunnan toimintaan eli tässä tapauksessa digitaaliseen asiointiin. Tähän tarvitaan nykypäivänä digitaalisia valmiuksia (laitteet, osaaminen ja motivaatio). Ikäihmisten varallisuus, osaamattomuus, pelko tai haluttomuus käyttää teknologiaa liittyvät siihen, miksi esimerkiksi tarvittavaa laitteistoa ei hankita tai käytetä. Vaikka ikäihmisten oma aktiivisuus ja motivaatio vaikuttavat teknologian käyttöön ja sen oppimiseen, on selvää, että ikä tuo mukanaan myös vaikeuksia kognitiiviseen toimintaan ja havaintomotoriikkaan. Toimintakyvyn heikkeneminen näiltä osin tuo haasteita oppimiseen ja motoriikan kohdentamiseen ja sitä kautta tieto- ja viestintätekniikan käyttöön. Tällöin tuen merkitys ja käyttäjälähtöinen suunnittelu ovat oleellisia syrjäytymistä estäviä tekijöitä.

Sharing economy turns ordinary consumers to active citizens who share, create and produce goods and services for their needs. Sharing the less–used of completely spare resources – such as goods, facilities, and even people's time – leads for more efficient use. The sharing economy is expected to grow rapidly in Finland in the coming years and reach even a permanent position on the Finnish market. This study examines the opportunities of sharing economy for Finnish households. Based on the literature the opportunities of sharing economy have been divided to six broader categories. The concept of sharing economy is discussed in the study by Acquier, Daudigeos and Pinksen and Schor's theories. The research questions of my research are as follows: 1. What opportunities the sharing economy holds for Finnish households? a. What are the categories the sharing economy splits into, from the view of households? The study is a descriptive literature review, in which both Finnish and international scientific publications have been used. Material has been limited to publications on the opportunities of sharing the economy, followed by limiting the remaining literature to the top categories by industry. The literature review showed that a variety of new opportunities are available to households in the sharing economy – some of them have not even been seen in Finland yet. Opportunities are divided into areas of transport, housing and space use, food services, recycling and lending of goods, and tourism services. However, predicting the stabilization of the sharing economy is challenging, as it still is in its growth phase. The situation continues to live both in terms of opportunities and challenges for households.

Drinking coffee is an important part of Finnish food culture. This study is about understanding the development of Finnish coffee culture and why people start to drink coffee. This thesis examines and describes factors that affect the start of one´s coffee drinking. Previous study of the subject has been done by Tuija Saarinen in her work Pannu kuumana: suomalaisia kahvihetkiä. She has collected coffee memories from different heritage archives. Inspired by Saarinen´s work, material for this research has been collected by a narrative method. Narratives are written about how Finnish people have started to drink coffee. Material for this study are narratives written by Finns. These narratives were collected by email. They were written by correspondents, independently and without monitoring. There are ten narratives. Material was analysed by finding and categorizing factors that have affected the start of one´s coffee drinking. Two kinds of factors were found affecting the start of coffee drinking. First coffee has an energizing effect which was found beneficial in every day life. This factor was mentioned in four of the ten narratives. Second factor was coffees social dimension. Social motivators to start drinking coffee were found in every single narrative. Sources for this social motivation were family, friends and work community. Energizing and social factors of starting one´s coffee drinking do not exclude each other. However, the social dimensions of coffee drinking appear to be the main factor why Finnish people start to drink coffee.