Impact research on social welfare and health care services for school-aged children awarded one million euro in funding

The objective of the SOTEPALA research project is to examine the wellbeing of schoolchildren as a whole: information on children's need for support at school is compared to information on the use of social welfare and health care services. This type of examination is carried out for the first time in the world and provides answers to five key research questions:

1. Do children who are social welfare clients participate in school health examinations as comprehensively as children who are not social welfare clients?
2. How are school health care, school psychologist, school social worker and social welfare services targeted at children who have special needs or a high number of absences at school? How are the services targeted according to the lifestyles and symptoms reported by the children themselves?
3. How does participation in school health examinations predict the use of other social welfare and health care services of the wellbeing services county?
4. What kind of factors promote and, on the other hand, hinder cooperation between professionals in different fields in Southern Finland?
5. What is the cost benefit of social welfare and health care services for school-aged children and can underuse and overuse of services that increase costs be detected?

"This study is a huge leap forward in impact research combining social welfare and health care. It's important to study the topic so that we can close the health and wellbeing gaps in the population that are already visible at a young age," says Silja Kosola, Associate Professor in Adolescent Medicine at the Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County, who leads the research project.

The two-year research project will be launched in early 2024, and the first results can be expected in the first half of 2025. The results will be published in international scientific journals and communicated extensively to the residents of the participating wellbeing services counties.

"The SOTEPALA research project helps to strengthen cooperation between school, student welfare and other social welfare and health care professionals. We want to ensure that schoolchildren and their families receive the support they need at the right time and as smoothly as possible," Kosola continues.

In addition to the Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County, the Southern Finland collaborative area included in the project consists of the wellbeing services counties of South Karelia, East Uusimaa, Central Uusimaa, Vantaa and Kerava, Kymenlaakso, and Päijät Häme, as well as the City of Helsinki and HUS Group. Socca and Verso, Centres of Excellence on Social Welfare, are also included in the project.