Finnish Research Research Articles

Etiology and methods of treatment of toothache in traditional medicine of Karelians

The article discusses the representation of all groups of Karelians (Karelians, Livvik and Ludik Karelians) on the causes and ways of treatment of toothache (rational and irrational). The study used comparative-historical and comparative-comparative methods. The research involved the works of Russian and Finnish researchers who address various aspects of Karelian traditional medicine. In addition, the author used field materials collected in the Olonetsky and Pryazha districts of the Republic of Karelia. The Karelians noticed one of the causes of toothache, which was the result of a cold, a natural cause. However, since even after the conversion to Christianity the Karelians remained the beliefs of pagan origin, and in the toothache (as a symptom) was viewed from mythological view. The Karelians looked at a toothache as a serious, painful disease. In order to prevent its occurrence, the Karelians used salt and performed ritual preventive actions. As well as the causes of toothache, treatments could be rational and irrational. From the rational treatment methods, Karelians practiced warming and compresses, made tincture and ointments from medicinal herbs. Bleeding was considered effective for relieving toothache. Irrational methods of treatment included sorcery. This can be seen in all Karelian groups.

Visualisation and analysis of multi-resolution raster geodatasets in the cloud

Abstract. Raster geodatasets are an important data source for map-related web applications. However, existing differences in how those datasets are georeferenced, formatted and made available complicate their integration for analysis and visualisation purposes. Furthermore, the inconsistent cell resolutions make it difficult to perform efficient and reliable display of the datasets over a range of scales. In particular, it is challenging to achieve satisfactory user experience in visual exploration of interactive analysis operations carried out on these datasets.Dataset harmonisation carried out as a pre-processing procedure seems to be necessary for resolving the raster geodata inconsistency challenge. After the pre-processing step, the harmonized datasets have to be stored into an easily accessible data storage, preferably in close connection with the computing platform where the analysis operations are to be performed.Multidimensional datacube has emerged as a conceptual framework for organising a repository of harmonised raster geodatasets. Satellite images have so far been the most popular geospatial application area for datacubes. The set of dimensions of such geodatacube typically consist of two or three coordinate axes, time, and the content theme. While being ingested into the datacube, the involved datasets are brought into a common georeferencing frame, series of cell resolutions, and storage format. The selected harmonised resolution levels can actually be seen as a set of individual geodatacubes.An initiative has launched in Finland to build a harmonised multi-resolution geodatacube, called GeoCubes Finland, containing some of the most important national geodatasets. The datasets currently incorporated into the geodatacube include digital elevation models together with land cover, superficial deposit, forest inventory and administrative unit datasets. GeoCubes Finland is being built as part of the Finnish Open Geospatial Information Infrastructure for Research (oGIIR) programme, aimed at developing the geospatial research infrastructure of the country. The data storage and the related computing facilities have been implemented on a cloud service platform provided by CSC - IT Center for Science that serves Finnish universities and research institutes.

Метод определения характеристик лесов на основе материалов дистанционного зондирования Земли, данных лесоустройства и алгоритма k-NN (на примере Лодейнопольского лесничества Ленинградской области)

The Russian system of National (State) Forest Inventory (NFI) valid from 2007 is methodologically imperfect and serves as a target of criticism and discussion. Insufficient attention paid to remote sensing should be attributed to the system’s weaknesses. A possible way of improving the NFI system is the use of automatic classification of forests’ characteristics based on materials of Earth remote sensing. One of the advanced automatic methods for forest remote sensing materials classification is k-NN or k-nearest neighbors algorithm, which have been successively used in the NFIs in other countries. It is based on regression between the spectral response characteristics of pixels with known forest characteristics and remaining pixels of the image. Questions of practical application of this method for the purposes of NFI were first raised and studied by Finnish researchers in the 1990s. Over the past two decades, a considerable amount of research in this area has been carried out in different countries. The purpose of our research is to assess the feasibility of using the k-NN method for determining the generalized characteristics of forests on the example of the Lodeynopol’skoe forest district in Leningrad region. The forest district area is 401,866 ha. It consists of 16 forest sub-districts. A regular network was created at a pitch of 1×1 km in order to form a set of trial plots for the classification by the means of GIS-technologies within the forest district. Round-shaped plots with a radius of 10 m or forest inventory compartments were used as trial plots located in the network nodes. Forest description for both types of plots was taken from the forest management data. Landsat-8 images were used for the classification (spectral channels: GREEN, RED, NIR, SWIR 2). The Landsat-8 images were automatically classified according to a number of forest inventory characteristics: average growing stock per 1 ha; middle class of bonitet; average relative density; share of coniferous and deciduous plantations area. The results of the k-NN classification were compared with the forest management materials. Systematic errors in the assessment of growing stocks, completeness and bonitet for the territory of Lodeynopol’skoe forest district made up less than 5 %. The obtained results confirm the potential of further study of conceptual and practical issues of the k-NN method application for determining forest characteristics. The development of this direction can contribute to the improvement of the Russian State Forest Inventory methodology.For citation: Chernikhovskii D.M., Alekseev A.S. The Method for Determining Forest Characteristics Based on Earth Remote Sensing Materials, Forest Management Data and the k-NN Algorithm (Case Study of Lodeynopol’skoe Forest District of Leningrad Region). Lesnoy Zhurnal [Forestry Journal], 2019, no. 4, pp. 45–65. DOI: 10.17238/issn0536-1036.2019.4.45

Playfulness in Online Marketing

This article explores different challenges and opportunities of using humour and playfulness in online marketing. Humour has been investigated intensively in marketing, especially in advertising, yet there is little knowledge of the challenges and opportunities in online marketing faced by practitioners. This study analyses key studies conducted in the context of a unique case: a Finnish research project exploring humour as a strategic tool for companies. These studies can provide emerging insights of humour in online marketing which are relevant for practitioners: humour as a transformational appeal, individual differences related to humour appreciation, role of storytelling and playfulness in blogging and challenges related to use of humour such as credibility.

Research Ethics and Justice: The Case of Finland.

This paper explores how Finnish research ethics deals with matters of justice on the levels of practical regulation, political morality, and theoretical studies. The bioethical sets of principles introduced by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress in the United States and Jacob Dahl Rendtorff and Peter Kemp in Europe provide the conceptual background, together with a recently introduced conceptual map of theories of justice and their dimensions. The most striking finding is that the internationally recognized requirement of informed consent for research on humans can be ideologically tricky in a Scandinavian welfare state setting.

Information Specialist facing new challenges

The open science and research (OSR) movement has been shaping the world of scholarly communication for a few years now. In Finland, the Ministry of Education and Culture promoted research information availability and open science through the Open Science and Research Initiative. As a part of this initiative, an evaluation of the openness of Finnish research organizations was completed. The first evaluation indicated that OSR functions needed clearer guidelines and a coordinating unit to further improve the cultural maturity in Lahti University of Applied Sciences (LAMK). Furthermore, the scholarly publishing activities also needed a new home base due to organizational changes. As the information and library services had the basic understanding of scholarly publishing, different publishing channels and responsible conduct of research, it was decided that the library takes on these responsibilities.
 For the new challenges, the traditional information specialist skills set needed updating. New skills were acquired via both formal and informal learning, benchmarking and trial-and-error. These new skills were immediately put to use in LAMK by creating a new open access publishing platform, organizing workshops and lectures for the staff and creating organizational guidelines for open RDI practices. The next organizational maturity evaluation ranking round proved the library’s new expertise, as LAMK climbed two levels up, being the second highest university of applied sciences in Finland.
 As for the role of the information specialists, the new role as OSR experts have opened up new possibilities within the organization. They are now seen more as possible partners in different RDI activities, participating in project work and further developing the way openness is being carried out in all aspects of RDI and teaching. The paper offers a case example of how library professionals can diversify and update their skills pool and shape the future of their profession.

FinBIF: An all-embracing, integrated, cross-sectoral biodiversity data infrastructure

The service model of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is being implemented in an increasing number of national biodiversity (BD) data services. While GBIF already shares >109 data points, national initiatives are an essential component: increase in GBIF-mediated data relies on national data mobilisation and GBIF is not optimised to support local use. The Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility (FinBIF), initiated in 2012 and operational since late 2016, is one of the more recent examples of national BD research infrastructures (RIs) – and arguably among the most comprehensive. Here, we describe FinBIF’s development and service integration, and provide a model approach for the construction of all-inclusive national BD RIs. FinBIF integrates a wide array of BD RI approaches under the same umbrella. These include large-scale and multi-technology digitisation of natural history collections; building a national DNA barcode reference library and linking it to species occurrence data; citizen science platforms enabling recording, managing and sharing of observation data; management and sharing of restricted data among authorities; community-driven species identification support; an e-learning environment for species identification; and IUCN Red Listing (Fig. 1). FinBIF’s aims are to accelerate digitisation, mobilisation, and distribution of biodiversity data and to boost their use in research and education, environmental administration, and the private sector. The core functionalities of FinBIF were built in a 3.5-year project (01/2015–06/2018) by a consortium of four university-based natural history collection facilities led by the Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus. Close to 30% of the total funding was granted through the Finnish Research Infrastructures programme (FIRI) governed by the national research council and based on scientific excellence. Government funds for productivity enhancement in state administration covered c.40 % of the development and the rest was self-financed by the implementing consortium of organisations that have both a research and an education mission. The cross-sectoral scope of FinBIF has led to rapid uptake and a broad user base of its functionalities and services. Not only researchers but also administrative authorities, various enterprises and a large number of private citizens show a significant interest in the RI (Table 1). FinBIF is now in its second construction cycle (2019–2022), funded through the FIRI programme and, thus, focused on researcher services. The work programme includes integration of tools for data management in ecological restoration and e-Lab tools for spatial analyses, morphometric analysis of 3D images, species identification from sound recordings, and metagenomics analyses.

Finland’s Neutrality as Part of Its National Identity

The article examines Finland's case within the framework of current discussions on the relevance of neutrality policy. It is widely believed that Finland's neutrality arose during the cold war as a result of a pragmatic assessment of the general world order at that time. The military non-alignment is regarded from this perspective as a rational and necessary policy for a small state in the bipolar world. After the cold war some politicians and researches argued that under the new conditions the policy of military neutrality is not relevant anymore and that belonging to the Western community is the only choice. However, Finland's military non-alignment policy and reliance on self-defense have remained unchanged for almost three decades. Finnish authorities have consistently pursued this line with a strong support of the majority of population. The reasons for that cannot be explained only as a rational political choice of a small state in certain geopolitical realities, the issue is more complex. Some Finnish researchers consider neutrality as part of the Finnish national identity. Using this approach, the author examines the genesis and development of neutrality policy as part of its national identity, which evolved at the junction of East and West. The article examines the influence of Sweden and Russia on the development of Finland’s statehood and its foreign policy. Sweden determined the political structures and inculcated Finns with the Scandinavian identity. The role of Russia in the beginning of Finnish statehood was crucial. It formed the subsequent Eastern vector of Finland’s foreign policy. The symbiosis of Western (Swedish) and Eastern (Russian) vectors gives Finland additional advantages, allowing a small state to claim the role of a «bridge-builder» between East and West. The author concludes that this complex combination has created the prerequisites for neutrality expressed in the policy of military non-alignment. Neutrality as a part of Finnish national identity has deep historical roots. It was born together with the Finnish statehood and has been staying with it despite all the changes in international environment.

Development of the Nickel-Refining Production at Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta Oy in GMK Norilsk Nickel

As a result of the innovative solutions found due to the joint efforts of Russian and Finnish researchers, the recovery of nonferrous and precious metals in Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta was significantly increased (%): the recovery of Ni was increased to 98.7; that of Cu, to 99.5; Pt, to 99.6; and Pd to 99.6. Simultaneously, a copper cake (one of the main commercial products) of an improved composition, namely, (%) 57–62 Cu, <3 Ni, 8–11 Fe, was produced. The arsenic content in the copper cake was decreased from 1.5–2 to 0.15–0.3%. The largest projects are as follows: stage-by stage implementation of a matte-free technology with simultaneous modification of the matte line for processing converter matte; the development of a jarosite technology of iron deposition from a nickel solution, which decreased the irreversible losses of nonferrous and precious metals with a waste iron cake as much as possible (the losses of nickel and cobalt were decreased by 11 times; those of copper, by 23 times; platinum, by 16%; palladium, by 10%; rhodium, by 9%; gold, by 12%); and the building and introduction of carbonate processing, which allowed the production of nickel cathodes to be increased. As a result of the measures taken to redistribute raw materials, the mattes of slag-cleaning furnaces, which contained 35–40% Fe, were moved to KGMK. This integration solution led to a significant synergy effect in Nornickel. One of the key factors of the economic efficiency of the matte-free technology was a decrease in the specific consumption of the main reagents (oxygen, air, sulfuric acid) and the energy resources used for the manufacture of nickel products. As a result, the transaction costs were decreased by ~3.5 mln dollars per year.

User-Centred Design and Multi-Actor Approach in Agricultural Innovations – Case: Combi Drill Design

Abstract.The author has shown that modern technologies do not always meet the expectations of farmers, and this may adversely affect the pace of innovation. It has been confirmed that the developers of agricultural equipment do not clearly understand the context of the use of products and identified the need to use a multi-factor approach: therefore, partners possessing specific knowledge in different areas should join efforts in project activities at all stages of innovation. (Research purpose) To prove that a user-centered design and a multi-factor approach in the development of agricultural machinery increase their efficiency and accelerate the introduction of innovations. (Materials and methods) It is shown that Finnish research and development projects of agricultural machinery design involve numerous participants and end users. For example, the seven-metre-wide combi drill ‘Junkkari W700’ was designed by the Finnish manufacturer Junkkari Oy in close cooperation with end-users and researchers. As a result of the innovation process several benefits have been realized. The drill is easy to operate and service. The users appreciate the straight-forward construction and moderate cost of the drill as compared to competing pneumatic drills. The need for hydraulics is minimized and the row spacing and coulter design has been optimized so that economical tractors with moderate drawbar power can be used. The ISOBUS-based control electronics was designed to be fitted either in the existing tractor or, if ISOBUS is missing, with an optional cable-set and terminal. That enables the users to easily integrate the drill in existing machine chains, having either modern or older tractors, without extra tractor investments. Much attention was put on quality, e.g. individual feeders for every coulter give accurate dosage of seed and fertilizer. The prototyping together with end-users and researchers enabled Junkkari to speed up the innovation process. (Results and discussion) Several benefits proved to have been realized. First of all, the drill is easy to operate and service. The users appreciate the straight-forward construction and moderate cost of the drill as compared to competing pneumatic drills. The need for hydraulics is minimized and the row spacing and coulter design has been optimized so that economical tractors with moderate drawbar power can be used. The ISOBUS-based control electronics as well as an optional cable-set and terminal were designed to be fitted either in the existing tractor. That enables the users to easily integrate the drill in existing machine types, having either modern or older tractors, without extra tractor investments. The design quality was approved, e.g. individual feeders for every coulter give accurate metering of seeds and fertilizers. (Conclusions) The author proves that user-centered design and multi-factor approach methodologies have benefits both for the users and manufacturers. Swift innovation process saves resources and minimizes the need for excess iterations in the innovation process.

Finnish Elementary School Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Gifted Education

This study examined Finnish elementary school teachers’ (N = 212) attitudes toward the gifted and their education. On a general level, teachers’ attitudes toward gifted education were slightly positive. Teachers saw that gifted students have social value and that they need special services. The results of teachers’ attitudes toward specific gifted education options were in line with earlier Finnish research, because teachers supported differentiated teaching but were more negative toward acceleration or separating the gifted into their own groups. However, despite the strong support for differentiated teaching for the gifted, teachers’ positions toward practice were more skeptical.

Addiction Lives: Moira Plant.

Addiction Lives: Moira Plant.

What Works in Democratic Dialogue?

As the global world produces new social problems and the continuously changing environment of work organizations calls for new modes of operation, there emerges a need for discussion forums to analyze and find practical solutions, involving the people concerned. This article examines, within the framework of realist evaluation, the potential of democratic dialogue, a Nordic method of workplace development, to generate outcomes that are put into practice in work organizations. Democratic dialogue is seen as a social program that, by providing the participants with new resources and new reasoning in work conferences and other dialogue forums, enables them to make new choices. The focus is on three Finnish action research networks applying democratic dialogue, and the recompilation of these cases along the Context-Mechanism-Outcomes formula of realist evaluation. Changes in the organizational patterns of communication, linked to the criteria of democratic dialogue and the design of work conferences, are identified and examined through the lenses of varied organizational concepts that elaborate the underlying processes generating change. The article suggests further research to compare cases with the same starting points but differing outcomes to trace the finer distinctions in the preconditions for accomplishing the desired objectives.

Manual annotation of narrative patient charts – Finnish experiences related to a multilingual text corpus

ASSESS CT project evaluated SNOMED CT use for patient information exchange in EU. Finland was one of the six participating EU states. The Finnish part of the research was conducted in the National Institute for Health and Welfare. The Finnish experiences and results are interesting from the perspective of a minority language.&#x0D; Research purpose was to compare SNOMED CT to two alternative terminology scenarios, a UMLS terminology set and a value set of national codes. The Finnish research team participated in the UMLS scenario. Clinical text samples were gathered from the six states resulting in a corpus of 60 texts. All texts were translated to six research languages. The annotators’ task was to identify clinically relevant concepts of a corpus text, add respective codes using a term browser, and evaluate concept and term coverages. The Finnish team conducted annotations as two pairs. The annotators chunked text samples covering 23 % of corpus texts by the first annotator and 35 % by the second. For clinical concepts, the annotators added 818 codes in total, of which 270 (33 %) were exact matches and 548 (66 %) different ones. Main issues affecting the Finnish results were corpus translation quality in a multilingual context and vagueness of annotation guidelines contributing to different interpretations of included semantic groups. Consequently, limited terminology content in Finnish affected results. However, the annotation bridges a path towards more comparable evaluation results of international reference terminologies such as SNOMED CT. The experiences can be used to inform a national level implementation decisions.

Positioning, conflict, and dialogue in management teams

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the dynamics of social positioning and interpersonal conflicts in management teams. This paper utilizes positioning theory to analyze team conflicts by combining microlevel interaction analysis and explicit, meso-level team research in the context of managerial work.Design/methodology/approachThis research is based on an analysis of 34 conflict episodes that occurred during management board meetings conducted by two Finnish public research institutions. By analyzing naturally occurring interactions and video material, this paper presents a discursive analysis of conflict from the perspective of positioning theory, focusing on local moral orders, social positions and the construction of dialogue.FindingsThis study’s findings illuminate how team conflicts may be understood in terms of positioning theory, as well as how positioning is connected to managing conflicts and constructing either degenerative or generative dialogue in teams. The present study indicates possibilities for applying positioning theory as a methodological tool when studying team interactions and dialogue.Practical implicationsThe study offers practical implications regarding team conflict management. By developing an understanding of the positioning dynamics of managers and other team members, one can help create constructive and generative dialogue in teams.Originality/valueFrom a methodological perspective, this paper presents a novel approach to the study of team conflicts and outlines several suggestions regarding the theoretical approach in the analysis of team interaction and dynamics.

Tutkimusaineiston avoin jakaminen – tutkimusorganisaatioiden jäsenten käsityksiä, kokemuksia ja mielipiteitä

Open research data is data that is free to access, reuse, and redistribute. This study focuses on the perceptions, opinions and experiences of staff and researchers of research institutes on topics related to open research data. Furthermore, the differences across gender, role in the research organization and research field were investigated. An international questionnaire survey, translated into Finnish and Swedish, was used as the data collection instrument. An online survey was distributed through an open science related network to Finnish research organizations. In the end, 469 responded to all 24 questions of the survey. Findings indicate that many are still unaware or uncertain about issues related to data sharing and long-term data storage. Women as well as staff and researchers of medical and health sciences were most concerned about the possible problems associated with data sharing. Those in the beginning of their scientific careers, hesitated about sharing their data.

Finaalirakenne suomenkielisissä teksteissä 1500-luvulta nykysuomeen

The Final clause in Finnish texts&#x0D; from the 16th century to the present day&#x0D; Modern Finnish language has a compact means of expressing that the action described in the embedded clause is the purpose of the action reported in the main clause (Hän on ponnistellut lujasti estä|ä|kse|en [prevent+INF+TRANSL+POSS.3SG] neuvottelujen kariutumisen ’He has made considerable effort in order to prevent the failure of the negotiations’) or that the main clause action is a prerequisite of the action reported in the subclause (Hän ei ole elänyt tarpeeksi kauan kerto|a|kse|en [tell+INF+TRANSL+POSS.3SG] löydöstään ’He hasn’t lived long enough to tell about his discovery’). This non-finite construction, named the Final clause (finaalirakenne) at its most scaled-down meaning can even convey simple posteriority (Edmonton meni jatkoon pudot|a|kse|en [fail+INF+TRANSL+POSS.3SG] seuraavalla kierroksella Minnesotalle ’Edmonton made the playoffs and/but lost against Minnesota in the following round’). The construction consists of the translative form of the A-marked infinitive. A possessive suffix is attached to the infinite verb form. It usually refers to the subject referent of the main clause.&#x0D; The Final clause appears to be a formation typical to literary language even though the translative of the A-marked infinitive has some lexicalized uses in local dialects. This paper was written by a group of Old Finnish researchers who decided to follow the factors behind its frequency in various old texts. As a result, a pilot study on the Final clause was conducted.&#x0D; The construction was investigated from three different perspectives: 1) diachronic changes in religious and legal texts, 2) the effect of genre, and 3) the author’s language background. Pieces of corpora, representing periods of Old Finnish, Early Modern and Modern Finnish, each 35 000 words in size, were determined, and the occurances of Final clause (or constructions close enough to it) were calculated.&#x0D; The results show that the Final clause, like non-finite clauses in general, was still seeking its shape in the earliest Biblical and legal texts. Few occurances of the Final clause could be defined in the 16th century texts. The translative of the A-marked infinitive had other uses, though. The Final clause spread rapidly in the 19th century and peaked in Elias Lönnrot’s legal texts as well as in the Bible translation eventually published in the 1930’s.&#x0D; From the beginning, the Final clause had a literal tone in it. Antti Lizelius (1708‒1795), parson of Pöytyä and Mynämäki counties and founder of the first Finnish newspaper, made frequent use of the Final clause in his Tiedotuskirja, local history research, while underused it in the newspaper Suomenkieliset Tieto-Sanomat, whose main goal was public enlightenment. Texts of several 19th century authors were investigated in the same manner in order to find out the effect of language background on the use of the Final clause. The writer’s mother tongue appeared to be a greater factor than the status of the text as original or translated. Non-native Finnish speakers were three times as likely to use the construction than native speakers.&#x0D; Many further questions arise from the findings of this paper which is a preliminary introduction to a so far little-researched non-finite construction. Nevertheless, it proved possible to follow the birth and development of the Final clause from available literal sources.

Emotional Dynamics in Integrated Care

Introduction: Integrated care is needed especially by people with co-morbidity and other complex health and social care needs. Difficult situations in life caused by illnesses or social problems are a burden to patients and their relatives. Caring for people with complex problems may also be an emotional burden for care professionals. Professionals feel to have inadequate resources and lack of expertise to help people whose life situation is difficult. Although integrated care has been studied extensively, the emotional aspects embedded in it, giving rise to group dynamics within and among teams and between organizations, have received less attention. Theory and methods: The aim of this paper is to address the emotional dynamics emerging in integrated care. Theoretically the paper draws on interorganizational and multisectoral collaboration and integrated care. The data was gathered in a Finnish research project Successful Integration of Health and Social Care. The research was conducted in close collaboration with the Better Everyday Life BEL development project, a pilot project of Finland’s national integrated care reform. 250 care professionals working with people with multiple complex problems were involved. The data consists of a survey, observations, interviews of care professionals, managers and patients with multiple complex problems and an in-depth interactive workshop. Results: The findings show that a broad spectrum of emotions runs through the encounters of care professionals and people with multiple problems. Patients get frustrated, worn out and have feelings of inferiority and even fear. Care professionals often experience the people with multiple problems as a burden, because they feel unsure if they are able to treat the emotional reactions of both clients and themselves. Further, group dynamic phenomena arise when working across professions and organizations. These dynamics are a consequence of the tensions that are stirred up when working with a diversity of professional and organizational identities and interests, while they are also exacerbated by the emotions that are inherent to the complex task of working with multiple problem patients. Discussion: It is crucial to pay attention on the emotional dimensions of the integration, impacting group dynamic processes within teams and across professional and organizational boundaries. Conclusions: The emotional burden of working with multiple-problem patients and of collaboration across professions and organizations influences the interaction between patients and professionals and interaction among professionals, and, as a consequence, the effectiveness of these interactions. Integrated care is not only rational action dealing with structures and processes. Lessons learned: The ultimate success of implementing integrated care for people with multiple problems requires that emotional and relational dynamics involved in the interactions between human beings representing different professions and organizations are taken seriously into account. Limitations: The study was conducted only in one country. Suggestions for future research: More attention should be paid to emotional experiences of actors as well as to the group dynamics within and between teams, and the effects these relational and emotional experiences have on the wellbeing of both professionals and vulnerable people and on the effectiveness of the intergration of care.

Kuopio birth cohort \u2013 design of a Finnish joint research effort for identification of environmental and lifestyle risk factors for the wellbeing of the mother and the newborn child

BackgroundA Finnish joint research effort Kuopio Birth Cohort (KuBiCo) seeks to evaluate the effects of genetics, epigenetics and different risk factors (medication, nutrition, lifestyle factors and environmental aspects) during pregnancy on the somatic and psychological health status of the mother and the child.MethodsKuBiCo will ultimately include information on 10,000 mother-child pairs who have given their informed consent to participate in this cohort. Identification of foetal health risk factors that can potentially later manifest as disease requires a repository of relevant biological samples and a flexible open up-to-date data handling system to register, store and analyse biological, clinical and questionnaire-based data. KuBiCo includes coded questionnaire-based maternal background data gathered before, during and after the pregnancy and bio-banking of maternal and foetal samples that will be stored in deep freezers. Data from the questionnaires and biological samples will be collected into one electronic database. KuBiCo consists of several work packages which are complementary to each other: Maternal, foetal and placental metabolism and omics; Paediatrics; Mental wellbeing; Prenatal period and delivery; Analgesics and anaesthetics during peripartum period; Environmental effects; Nutrition; and Research ethics.DiscussionThis report describes the set-up of the KuBiCo and descriptive analysis from 3532 parturients on response frequencies and feedback to KuBiCo questionnaires gathered from June 2012 to April 2016. Additionally, we describe basic demographic data of the participants (n = 1172). Based on the comparison of demographic data between official national statistics and our descriptive analysis, KuBiCo represents a cross-section of Finnish pregnant women.

Psychometric evaluation of the Finnish translation of the assessment of communication and interaction skills (ACIS-FI)

Background: The Model of Human Occupation (MOHO) is a widely used conceptual practice model in Finland. Therefore, Finnish translations of valid and reliable MOHO assessments are needed.Objective: The primary objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Finnish translation of the Assessment of Communication and Interaction Skills (ACIS-FI) using the many-facet Rasch model approach.Methods and Materials: Twenty-eight occupational therapists completed an in-person training workshop on the ACIS-FI and participated as raters in this study. One hundred and forty-eight clients were rated using the ACIS-FI. Rating scale functioning, unidimensionality, person validity and rater severity, item targeting, and item and person separation statistics were examined.Results: The rating scales demonstrated adequate functioning; the rating category ‘deficit’ was infrequently adopted by the raters. The ACIS-FI had satisfactory construct validity, as confirmed by all items exhibiting unidimensionality within a single construct (i.e. communication and interaction skills), and appropriate item fit. Validity was further confirmed through low person misfit (6%) and low rater misfit (3.6%). No ceiling or floor effects were found. The ACIS-FI was able to separate clients into four levels of communication and interaction skills.Conclusions: This study offers evidence for the validity of the ACIS-FI as a measure of communication and interaction skills in occupational therapy.Significance: The ACIS-FI offers Finnish practitioners and researchers a valid tool to measure communication and interactions skills that is theoretically grounded in the MOHO.