Social welfare professionals’ views on addressing environmental issues in social work in Finland

Abstract

Global environmental challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and overconsumption of natural resources require urgent action. Environmental crises have social consequences; hence, social work should participate in recognizing and mitigating these . This study investigated social welfare professionals’ perceptions on the relation of their work to environmental issues in Finland and the factors that influence these views. The research questions were: 1) How important do social welfare professionals perceive addressing environmental issues to be in their work? 2) What kinds of environmental issues do they perceive as having the most influence on social work clients’ wellbeing in Finland? 3) What background factors are associated with the perceived importance of addressing environmental issues in social work? A survey (N = 542) conducted among Finnish social welfare professionals in November 2020 showed that most respondents perceived addressing environmental issues in social work as important. Increasing concentrations of the population in certain areas, anxiety related to environmental problems, and desolated rural areas were the three most important environment-related issues marked as impairing client wellbeing. Social welfare professionals who emphasized the importance of addressing environmental issues in their personal life and those working in private or third sector organizations were more likely than public sector counterparts to value addressing environmental issues in social work. The findings suggest that social welfare professionals recognize that environment-related issues affect client wellbeing; hence, these issues should be incorporated into social work training and practice.