Research brief: Mental well-being and work ability support in the art, culture and events sector
Participation in the study is voluntary. You can also take part in coaching and peer support groups without giving your consent to participate in the study.
What is the purpose of the study?
The study conducted by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health provides information about sustainable career paths in the art and culture sector with a particular focus on freelancers and self-employed professionals. Our additional goal is to assess the effects of coaching and peer support groups arranged as part of the Mental well-being and work ability support in the art, culture and events sector project on the participants’ well-being at work.
The study provides information that makes it possible to develop operating methods in the art, culture and events sector that support sustainable career paths and mental well-being. By taking part in the study, you can share your experiences to influence the development of well-being at work among the professionals of the Finnish art, culture and events sector.
Participants in the coaching and peer support groups carried out in 2023–2024 are invited to take part in the study (at least 60 people). The participants in the coaching and peer support groups have been selected as the target group of the study in order to gain information about the well-being of freelancers, self-employed professionals and grant recipients.
How is the study carried out?
Three types of data are collected and used in the study: interviews, surveys and writing assignments.
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Individual interviews. In some coaching and peer support groups, interviews are conducted to collect research data. In an individual interview, you talk with the leader of a coaching and peer support group for about an hour before the beginning of group activities. Consent to participate in the study is requested separately.
Group interviews. Group interviews take about 1.5 hours, involve more than one interviewee and are carried out after the group activities. Consent to participate in the study is requested separately.
- Preliminary and follow-up surveys. The surveys are provided on the Webropol platform and they can be accessed with a digital survey link. By taking the survey, you consent to your replies being used as research material. The survey link is distributed to the participants in the coaching and peer support groups who have given their consent to take part in the study both before and after group activities. The survey will take about 5–10 minutes.
- Writing assignment. The participants in some coaching and peer support groups have the chance to write a short work life story in which they describe their career paths so far and explore possible paths in the future. The participants are asked to amend their stories during group activities. Consent to participate in the study is requested separately.
The purpose of the interviews is to collect information about the interviewees’ expectations for coaching and peer support group activities and how they are carried out as well as background information, experiences in current jobs, work history and thoughts about the future. With the surveys, we collect information about the different dimensions of well-being at work, belief in personal skills and assessments of coaching and peer support group activities. The writing assignments given to some of the groups complement the information about the participants’ work history and thoughts about the future. It is possible that health-related information, for example, may arise in the interviews and writing assignments.
We will retrieve your contact information from you when you sign up for the coaching and peer support group. Along with the collected research data, this contact information forms a personal data register. The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health is the controller of the register.
We collect research data with identifying data. The data are pseudonymized and analysed with a personal research subject ID.
Who is in charge of the study?
The study is carried out and the proprietary rights to the data are held by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. The project’s research group consists of the Principal Investigator, Senior Specialist Heli Ansio (heli.ansio [at] ttl.fi, tel. +358 (0)50 468 7335), Specialist Researcher Sara Lindström (sara.lindstrom [at] ttl.fi, tel. +358 (0)43 824 4521) and Research Manager Anu Järvensivu (anu.jarvensivu [at] ttl.fi, tel. +358 (0)50 4431706). For more information about the study, please contact the research group.
The interviews are carried out by the leaders of the coaching and peer support groups from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, the Finnish Musicians’ Union, the Arts Promotion Centre Finland and the Trade Union for Theatre and Media Finland.
The study is funded by the European Commission and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health as part of the “Mental health support measures and methods, providing support for various sectors: Mental Health Toolkit” project.
When is the study carried out?
The study is carried out by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in 2023–2024.
More information about participation in the study and data protection
Do you wish to take part in a voluntary study?
The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health is a Finnish expert of well-being at work. We carry out a lot of scientific research. You have been invited to take part in a scientific study titled “Mental well-being and work ability support in the art, culture and events sector”.
Participation is completely voluntary and you have the right to decline from participating. In addition, you can cancel your participation and, for example, quit a survey or interview at any time during the study. You may also withdraw your consent to participate in the study and you will not be contacted anymore.
If you quit or cancel your participation in the study, we will use the data collected thus far in the study. If you do not wish for your data to be used in the study, you can object to the processing of your personal data. This means that your data will no longer be used for research purposes, but it will be transferred to the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health’s archives for permanent storage. Analyses that have already been conducted cannot be cancelled, however.
Quitting the study or withdrawing your participation at any point before the end of the study will not have an impact on how you are treated now or in the future. You can also take part in coaching and peer support groups without giving your consent to participate in the study.
Legal basis for processing personal data and the related rights
The study involves the processing of personal data. The purpose of processing personal data is to carry out a scientific study. The legal basis for the processing of personal data is public interest (General Data Protection Regulation Article 6.1(e), Data Protection Act section 4.1, paragraph 3). Special categories of personal data are also processed for research purposes in this study. We will retrieve your contact information from you when you sign up for the coaching and peer support group. Along with the collected research data, this contact information forms a personal data register. The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health is the controller of the register.
You have the right to object to the processing of personal data, i.e., request that your personal data are not used in the study. In this case, the personal data is not used for research purposes and transferred to permanent storage in the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health’s archives.
You have the right to access your data, inspect the personal data concerning you and receive a copy of the data. You have the right to request the data to be rectified. You also have the right to request a restriction on the processing of personal data. Furthermore, you have the right to lodge a complaint regarding the processing of personal data with the data protection supervisory authority.
We can carry out these requests if we are in possession of adequate personal data that allows for identifying you. If you want to exercise your rights concerning the processing of personal data, contact the Data Protection Officer. Further information about data protection:
Scientific research and development project registers
The data is processed securely
We process your personal data legally, securely and confidentially. We will use the data only for the purpose of scientific research.
We use the services of IT service providers that provide us with technical solutions for data processing. Personal data is processed in IT services suitable and secure for each type of data. The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health has an agreement with each IT service provider, and the terms and conditions for the processing of personal data have been defined. We also use the services of service providers that transcribe audio recordings into written text. For more information about the service providers, contact the study’s Principal Investigator or Data Protection Officer.
Research result reporting
We prepare scientific publications and other publications related to the study, such as media releases, from the data. We may issue a work report to the funder of the study.
We report the results in a way that makes it impossible to identify individual participants.
Data retention, disclosure and further use
The National Archives of Finland has mandated the study materials of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health along with the related personal data to be stored permanently. Consequently, we will store the materials and personal data permanently in the archives of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health after the study.
It is possible that the data is used for subsequent studies. The data may be disclosed to other parties conducting scientific research in accordance with the law. Information about further use of the data will be provided personally, if necessary, on the website of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health or by other parties conducting research.
Contact us
If you have any questions or you want to exercise your rights concerning the processing of personal data, contact the study’s Principal Investigator or our Data Protection Officer. We would be happy to provide additional information:
Controller
Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
P.O. Box 40
FI-00032 Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
tel. +358 (0)30 4741 (exchange)
Principal Investigator
Heli Ansio, Senior Specialist
Topeliuksenkatu 41b
00250 Helsinki
tel. +358 (0)50 468 7335
heli.ansio [at] ttl.fi
Finnish Institute of Occupational Health Data Protection Officer
tel. +358 (0)30 474 2429
tsv [at] ttl.fi
Data Protection | Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
