Project

Internship guidance development project (HoksHarkka)

Project sponsors

Abbreviation
HoksHarkka
Project type
Development project
Focus area
Other area
Implementation time
1.5.2022 - 30.4.2023
Project unit
School of Health and Social Studies
Financing program
European Social Fund (ESF)
Project description

The social and health care sector suffers from labor shortages in almost all occupations, both nationwide and in Central Finland. The attractiveness and holding power of the sector has decreased in working life and in education. There are themes in the work culture of the SOTE sector, whose influence can contribute to the well-being of work communities and thereby further the attraction and holding power of the sector. In Central Finland, a special need has been identified in the field of social and health care and in educational institutions to develop the guidance of students' internships. A rapid response is now needed.

The aim of the project is to strengthen the traction and holding forces of the SOTE sector in the most effective way possible. The aim is to promote the guidance of students' internships in the Central Finland region in the direction that interest in the field is maintained and the work culture changes in a direction that encourages and includes student interns. The project will launch the development of interaction between social and health institutions and workplaces and the guidance of work placements in an innovative way.

The project will produce videos of internships based on existing experiences, presented by the theater. These
humorous videos are made from the contents of the internship guidance. The aim of the videos is to increase the dialogue on the topic and, as a result, the internships to produce positive and inclusive experiences for students and to better engage students in the field and in the work community. They highlight the importance of work culture in terms of attractiveness and attachment to the industry. They make it possible for experts to notice the importance of encounter and emotional skills and to reflect on their own activities and professional skills. The videos also take into account the understanding of the diversity of working life and highlight the potential of different employees in the social and health sector.

Work communities can take advantage of these videos to develop internship guidance. Similarly, educational
institutions can leverage videos in their operations. They can also be viewed by others interested in the topic. The importance of work culture for the industry's interest and attachment to the industry is brought to the fore through the videos. During the Covid 19 pandemic, there is a great need for material that can be easily found online. This project also meets that need.

More information:
Project Manager Mervi Kuustie,
[email protected]

Project results
Main goal 

The main goal of the project is to promote the guidance of student internships in the Central Finland region in such a way that interest in the field is maintained and the work culture changes in a direction that encourages and includes student interns. The project highlights themes that need to be developed in the internship guidance of students in the social and health sector.

Result: The project highlighted themes that require development in work placement supervision. It promoted awakening to the need for development in the Wellbeing services county of Central Finland and generated a discussion on the topic.

Sub-goals

Sub-goal 1: Through the emergence of conversational and impressive experiences, the health and social care sector is described needs for the development of work placement guidance.

Result: Comprehensive base material was compiled for designing the Scripts of the videos. Internship experiences were reviewed based on the experiences of the teachers and students who supervised the internships, as well as feedback from students and working life in Gradia and Jamk. Over the years, a lot of experiences have accumulated, which were reviewed and from which themes were compiled and examples were brought up. They work well as a basis for designing HoksHarkka's videos.

In the future, it will be easier to bring up the themes of the challenges of internships with justification and to discuss the topic in general, when it has already been done at HoksHarkka. The result of this sub-goal helps to justify to all actors in the field of social security that there are bad experiences and things that require development, and that internship guidance needs development.

Sub-goal 2: Produce videos based on experiences, using humor, which deal with phenomena related to the challenges and opportunities of working life in an easily approachable way.

Result: Three (3) videos using humor related to internship situations in the social security sector.

The videos (3) were created as a result of the joint scripting and production process of HoksHarkka's implementers, partners and production. The things considered and noticed in the process of the manuscript work can be considered as a result of the project work. When the issues have been discussed and they have been brought up, they affect the awareness and discussion about the issues related to work placement supervision.

HoksHarkka was designed under the leadership of video production professionals and the entire production process took into account the basis of the video script, the contents, the target group and the location of the videos. We thought about matters related to the roles, emotional states, locations and locations of HoksHarkka's videos, consideration of the target group, and the duration and number of images. We also discussed how to get the message across in many ways, for example by illustration, plot, speech.

We went through what work training means in different environments in the social security sector; how to go to training, what happens there, how the day goes, how to solve problem situations, what is challenging about training.

The goal in the content and the plot of the videos was that the thing told remains troubling the viewer, in which case it awakens and, at its best, also acts as a wake-up call for the viewer's self-reflection. This was achieved in HoksHarkka's videos, especially with the help of humor. Humor was brought out in speech, action and the surprising nature of situations and characters.

It was discussed during the production of the script and videos that people usually remember one thing. People also react to things in different ways, so it was taken into account that the videos have as many things as possible. Such attention was made possible by professional production and acting in the project.

As the discussions and planning progressed, both generic themes connecting internship experiences in the different social and occupational health and safety fields were found, as well as the most impressive issues to be highlighted that need development. From these theme ideas, impressive entities were finally born in the script and production process. The videos were filmed in the authentic and modern premises of Nova Hospital. The consideration and visibility of horizontal principles, both in the project work itself and in the videos, was also involved in the design of the script.

As a result of this phase, impressive videos were created that looked like HoksHarkka's goals. The themes of the videos were identified and recognized as existing and essential areas in need of development among social and welfare sector operators in Wellbeing services county of Central Finland. They sparked discussion. The project has also more generally acted as an accelerator of new project plans for the development of work placement guidance among various actors in the Wellbeing services county of Central Finland.

Sub-goal 3: Distribute videos for viewing and stimulate discussion to improve the quality of internships.

Good communication was used to engage, ensure and stimulate discussion and visibility of the project's goal. In accordance with the communication plan, the videos were communicated on a multi-channel basis in different communication channels and information about them was offered to be shared in extensive cooperation networks. For the use of the videos, instructions and tips were prepared for the HoksHarkka website about where the videos can be used. Their use and location was communicated to a wide group of social and health sector operators in the Wellbeing services county of Central Finland. In this way, the project takes root and stays alive among the operators of the Wellbeing services county of Central Finland.

Result: With the help of the videos, there was a discussion about the shortcomings and development needs and opportunities of the internship guidance.

As a result of the project, with the help of humorous videos, grievances and areas for improvement in students' work placements have been highlighted. Development targets are described from different perspectives, taking into account students (Jamk, Gradia), work communities and employers, as well as educational institutions.

The development targets have been discussed as constructively and equally as possible, sensitively and with respect for all parties among the operators in the social and health sector.

The quantitative goals of 2 workshops and 3 videos using humor were well realized in the project and were a workable amount for achieving the goals and results of the project as a whole.