Diaconia Barometers chart Finnish diaconal workers' experiences of their work and views of current topics in diaconia. The topics of the 2018 survey included the communications and engagement of diaconal work, everyday diaconal work and its challenges, and the Christian orientation of diaconal workers. The survey was funded by the Church Research Institute. The respondents were first asked questions about diaconal communications. These charted who was responsible for communications in the parish, what kind of channels were used in communications, whether the parish had a communications plan, and how the parish engaged with different people and organisations in terms of diaconal work. The effect of digitalisation on diaconal work was surveyed with questions about the use of different digital tools. A number of questions concerning everyday diaconal work were asked including, for example, what kind of people the respondents encountered in their work (e.g. persons who have to resort to food aid continuously, elderly people with memory loss, undocumented immigrants), how much time they spent on different tasks and what proportion of their tasks they regarded as diaconal work. The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with statements relating to diaconal work in a changing society and church. Another set of questions charted things that increased workload, support received from various resources and satisfaction with supervision. The respondents were also asked who was responsible for different tasks in their parish. The number of applicants to vacancies in diaconal work in the parish in 2017 were charted as well as the number of vacancies at the time of the survey. The Christian orientation of the respondents and their work community was surveyed by asking whether they believed in the triune God, in which Christian practices they participated (e.g. prayer, worship service, Eucharist), how Christianity was visible in their work and at the workplace (e.g. offering to pray for or with a client, reading the Bible with a client, values of the work community aligned with personal values). Background variables included the number of inhabitants in the municipality of the respondent's workplace, the respondent's age, educational background, gender, work experience in the field, and diocese.

2021