Clients term shelter home services satisfactory: THL

Clients are primarily satisfied with the services they receive from shelters based on the feedback collected from the clients of shelters for victims of domestic violence in 2018, said the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) in a press release.

The overall score that the clients gave to the services was deemed very good.

The clients gave the highest ratings to their sense of security during the service, the location of the shelters and the confidentiality of the service, and the usefulness of the service. Based on the received feedback, there is most room for improvement in raising awareness of the shelter services.

Client feedback is also collected from the children using the shelters for victims of domestic violence.

In 2018, nearly 270 children gave feedback after spending time in the shelters. The children most frequently gave a smiley face to their sense of security (91% of respondents), and the majority of the respondents also felt that the period spent in the shelter had helped them (74% of respondents).

By contrast, some found it at times difficult to discuss their issues (64% gave a smiley face).

Client feedback is used in developing the shelter activities. This year, there is a particular focus on the development of the work carried out with children at the shelters.

“The shelter personnel will be trained on encountering children and using different approaches applied in work with individuals. A further aim is to ensure that each child is appointed a personal worker at the shelter for the duration of his or her stay at the shelter”, explained Chief Specialist Jukka Mäkelä of THL.

In 2017, there were in total 4,333 clients at the shelters, of whom 2,274 were adults and 2,051 children. 2,139 of the adult clients were female and 135 were male. The statistics on the numbers of clients in 2018 will be published in June 2019.