The objective of the research is to obtain a comprehensive understanding of Russian-speaking individuals aged 50 and above residing in Finland, focusing on their health, well-being, service experiences, as well as their utilization of digitalized public and care services. Special emphasis is placed on transnational care relationships, questions related to integration and identity, and their health-related consequences. The research group aims to disseminate the results widely to various collaborative stakeholders. The research findings provide crucial additional information about the health status and experiences of the Russian-speaking population in Finland regarding the utilization of health and care services, which can be utilized in the future as support for service development and political decision-making.
The research is based on surveys conducted in 2019 and 2022. The baseline survey of the research was sent by mail in 2019 to 3,000 randomly selected Russian-speaking individuals permanently residing in Finland, who were 50 years or older by 2018. The survey collected information on the participants' health and utilization of public services, among other data. The survey data is supplemented with information from other data controllers (such as the Finnish Centre for Pensions, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Statistics Finland) if the participants have given their consent for this. In October 2022, we sent a follow-up survey to over 1,000 respondents to assess changes in the health and living conditions of Russian-speaking individuals aged 50 or older.
The CHARM study is being conducted at the University of Helsinki, in the MICA research group, which is part of the Centre of Excellence in Aging and Care Research (CoE AgeCare). The research is funded by the Academy of Finland.