In this article, the starting points of the theses of the BA degree programmes in the social services, health care and church community work as well as the guidelines and regulation regarding the topic choices will be examined.
In Diaconia University of Applied Sciences (Diak), the starting point of the theses in the social services, health care and church community work is that they develop the profession and the services of the field as well as customer work. The forms and processes of the theses may be different, but a common denominator is that the aim of the theses is to look for a solution for a question related to the profession and the service needs of customers.
Another essential starting point is that completing the thesis deepens the student’s professional knowledge and development. Completing the thesis offers an opportunity for the student to acquaint themself in with a topic which they find interesting and which will advance the profession and to delve into it in a versatile manner. With their thesis, the student expands and deepens the knowledge and skills required in the profession. In the thesis, the acquisition of knowledge and skills and the processes of critical reflection are combined, helping the student to become an expert in the field. During the thesis process, networks and companionships might be formed between the students and the professionals, helping the student find employment.
The aim of Diak is that the theses are related to the research, development and innovation processes of work life. The theses might be linked, for example, to surveys or reports in projects, or the development of services, the profession and customer work in the field based on them. At best, the theses will promote the focal points of the Diak strategy.
The Diak strategy for the years 2021–2030 emphasises change in oneself and the society. The aim of the change is a more human and sustainable world. Building a more human and sustainable world is wrapped in the development of the four focus areas of Diak. The focus areas are described as follows:
As the student begins to plan their thesis in the social services, health care and church community work, they must consider to which development needs of the society and profession the thesis corresponds. In a thesis in the social services, health care and church community work, it is important to promote the service system and the practices and methods of customer work related to the well-being and health of the citizens.
In the social services, health care and church community work, the emphasis has been on strengthening the involvement of citizens and clients in the development of services and work practices (e.g., Häyhtiö, 2017; Laitinen & Niskala, 2013; Pohjola, Kairala, Niskala & Lyly, 2017). Customers have experiences and unique knowledge of services and work practices. It is significant to listen to clients in different life situations and to enable their involvement in developing services and work practices so that they would better suit the needs of the service users. In the planning of the thesis, it must be evaluated if the clients have an opportunity to participate.
As you begin your thesis process, consider the following questions:
In the research and development of social services, health care and church community work as well as the services and customer work in the areas, the necessary competences include knowledge of systematic information acquisition and evaluating it critically. Knowledge includes research, development and innovation methods as well as information production required by R&D&I.
Universities of Applied Sciences have drafted a description of the knowledge areas of a BA of Social Services. The areas are 1) social ethical knowledge, 2) customer work knowledge, 3) knowledge of the service systems of the social services, 4) critical and participatory society knowledge, 5) research-based development and innovation knowledge and 6) community, leadership and entrepreneur knowledge. The areas form a complementing whole. (The Network for UAS Education in Social Services, 2016.)
Of the knowledge areas of the BA of Social services, the thesis is firmly attached to research-based development and innovation knowledge. Research-based development and innovation knowledge is apparent in the ability to plan, realise and evaluate research, development and innovation activities. (The Rectors’ Conference of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences Arene, 2017, 10–12; Helminen et al., 2020; Näkki, 2016, 67–76; The Network for UAS Education in Social Services, 2016.)
Research-based development and innovation knowledge
A graduate with a BA of Social services
In addition to research-based development and innovation knowledge, the thesis will promote for example the building of critical and participatory society knowledge. Critical and participatory society knowledge includes qualifications to research the structures and processes that threaten the social well-being of citizens and that cause inequality and poverty. Critical and participatory society knowledge further includes the readiness to report grievances for example to decision makers. (Arene, 2017, 10–12; Helminen et al., 2020; Näkki, 2016, 67–76 The Network for UAS Education in Social Services, 2016.)
In social services, the practical development work and related information production is highlighted (e.g., Muurinen, 2019; Satka et al., 2016). In the profession, the experimental development has been discussed (e.g., Muurinen, 2019; Poskela et al., 2015). The emphasis has been on developing the services of social services and the practices and methods of customer work in collaboration with the work life quarter and together with citizens and clients (e.g., Laitinen & Niskala, 2013; Forssén, Nyqvist & Raitanen, 2009; Toikko, 2012).
The BA of Social services provides the student with both broad and deep special knowledge of social services. In the degree programme, there are five alternative knowledge areas: early childhood education, child, adolescent and family nursing, mental health and substance abuse work, gerontological social work, social work with the disable and diversity and multicultural work. In the thesis, the student has the opportunity to deepen the professional special knowledge by choosing a thesis topic from these areas.
Developing special knowledge is also connected to completing professional qualifications, which are specifically required by law. In their thesis, the student completing the BA of Social services must take into account the legislation regarding competences. If the student chooses early childhood education as part of their degree, the degree must include at least 60 credits of early childhood education studies and social pedagogy studies (L 540/2018, 27. §). These studies include a 15-credit thesis.
The education of nurses is guided by the directives of the European Union, 2005/36/EC, and 2013/55/EU (European Commission 2005; 2013). Also, act and decree on Health Care Professionals (A 559/1994; D 564/1994) and national competence requirements for general nurses (the yleSHarviointi project 2020) are guiding the competence reached in the education.
The competence requirements for general nurses include the Evidence-based practice, the utilization of research knowledge and decision-making, Entrepreneurship and development and Quality management, where the competence requirements for nurse (AMK) and public health nurse (AMK) have been defined among others
Also, competence requirements for general nurses include utilizing evidence-based knowledge in the thesis.
The thesis is included in clinical training of nursing students which is guided by the EU directives. This means the following:
Working life includes the projects of Diak, projects where Diak is a partner, public or private work life organization, association, foundation, Diak itself as an organization or similar organization. The collaboration can be offered by the working life partner itself or Diak. Student can also arrange the thesis to be based on working life for example during clinical practicums. The defining the subject will be made in the negotiation between the working life partner, student and Diak teachers, who are supervising the thesis. The objective is a process which benefits both the students and the working life where the users, professionals and citizens of services are not the subjects of the operation but active participants
According to EU directive “trainee nurses learn, as part of a team and in direct contact with a healthy or sick individual and/or community, to organize, dispense and evaluate the required comprehensive nursing care, on the basis of the knowledge and skills which they have acquired. The trainee nurse shall learn not only how to work in a team, but also how to lead a team and organize overall nursing care, including health education for individuals and small groups, within the health institute or in the community.
When the thesis is made in the project, attention has to be paid to this section of the directive and consider what significance the thesis has to nursing and the development of it.
⇒ Forms
The forum of publication for the thesis work must be chosen in such a way that it supports, in the best possible way, the utilisability of the thesis and is part of the working life oriented process. If the thesis work is published at an event by the cooperation partner or in a conference, for example, the supervising teacher and the peer opponent convey their feedback to the author in a written form.
The publication event of the thesis is arranged either on the premises of the learning institution or, for example, on the premises of the cooperation partner of DIAK. DIAK has schedules for the publication of the theses. However, one can diverge from them on the strength of a decision of the supervising teacher. Such situations include, for example, the publication of the thesis at an event of the cooperation partner or in a conference on the subject area of the thesis.
Attention has to be paid that the representative of the working life, in other words the supervising nurse of this practice is present in the publication event of the thesis (the thesis is published either in working life or the representative of the working life arrives at the publication event in Diak).
Theses included in the church community work of Diak must meet the criteria set for theses in social services, health care as well as the church community work. In their thesis, a student studying to become a deacon, youth worker or early childhood teachers must deepen their knowledge in social services and church-related professional knowledge. The thesis process for teachers in the early childhood education in the church is also determined by the qualification criteria for the BA in Social Services, Early Childhood Education and Care according to which the thesis has to be related to early childhood education theory and operating environment. The thesis of a deaconess also has to meet the requirements of a public health nurse.
In the church community work education, the thesis (15 credits) must be related to work in the church according to the qualification decision of the Church Board (Kirkkohallitus [Church Board], 2017/2020). To get the church employee qualification, the thesis must meet one of the following four criteria:
These criteria apply for all methods of completing a thesis, regardless of if one is focusing on research or development or if the thesis consists of smaller projects. Thesis topics meeting the first criterion can usually be found in researching the operation or development of a local church. For instance, the thesis may be about development projects in diaconal work or strengthening the participation of children, youth and families. Often interesting and concrete ideas for a thesis can be found during the training or in the OSKE. The Diak community workshops also offer opportunities for writing a thesis (Häkkinen, 2018). It is also possible to complete a thesis for instance as multidisciplinary co-operation by developing materials for diaconal education for confirmation schools together with the youth or examining the participation of children in the diaconal family work.
According to the second criterion, the church community work thesis can also primarily meet the needs of research and development in the social services and health care. One studying to become a deacon can, for instance, produce materials for encountering multicultural patients, and one studying to become an early childhood educator can examine the environmental education in the early childhood education, for example. The perspectives of the diaconal, church education, youth work or early childhood education fields must be present in the whole study starting with the idea. This should be demonstrated in a separate chapter. In a thesis focusing on research, this chapter can examine the application of the results in the work of a church. In a thesis focusing on development, the analysis can include an examination of how the expertise achieved in the thesis can be applied in church-related work.
Furthermore, the third and the fourth criteria are related to such church community work theses that meet the needs of the social services and health care. With these criteria, too, it is important that examining church-related work is present in the whole of the thesis.
A 559/1994. Act on Health Care Professionals. https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1994/19940559
D 564/1994. Decree on Health Care Professionals. https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1994/19940564
Ammattikorkeakoulujen rehtorineuvosto Arene (2017). Sosionomi tuottaa hyvinvointia läpi elämänkaaren: Ammattikorkeakoulutus sosiaalialan muutoksen edistäjänä. Ammattikorkeakoulujen rehtorineuvosto Arene ry:n työryhmän selvitys sosiaalialan tilanteesta ja kehityksestä 2017. Arene. http://www.arene.fi/wp-content/uploads/Raportit/2018/arene_sosionomiselvitys_pitka_raportti_fin.pdf?_t=1526901428
European Commission (2005). Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications. Retrieved from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32005L0036&from=EN
European Commission (2013). Directive 2013/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 amending Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications and Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 on administrative cooperation through the Internal Market Information System ( ‘the IMI Regulation’ ). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32013L0055&from=EN
Forssén, K., Nyqvist, L., & Raitanen, A. (toim.). (2009). Tutkiva sosiaalityö: Moniammatillisuus sosiaalityön mahdollisuutena. Talentia-lehti & Sosiaalityön tutkimuksen seura. http://www.sosiaalityontutkimuksenseura.fi/muuttiedotteet/Tutkiva_sosiaalityo_2009_net.pdf
Helminen, J., Juujärvi, S., Koivisto, M., Rinne, P., & Rusi, M. (2020). Sosionomin (AMK) osaamisen arviointi asiakasturvallisuuden näkökulmasta. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-493-351-3
Häkkinen, T. (2018). Yhteisöpajat oppimistehtävien ja opinnäytetöiden mahdollistajina. Teoksessa M. Valtonen (toim.), Yhteisöpajat osallisuuden, oppimisen ja muutoksen mahdollistajina (s. 121‒129). (Diak Työelämä 15). Saatavilla http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-493-314-8
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Pohjola, A., Kairala, M., Niskala, A. & Lyly, H. (2017). Asiakkaasta kehittäjäksi ja vaikuttajaksi — Asiakkaiden osallisuuden muutos sosiaali- ja terveyspalveluissa. Vastapaino.
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Jari Helminen, Satu Kajander-Unkuri ja Minna Valtonen 2020