Low-threshold Meeting Places and Inclusive Communities during COVID-19: Client Survey 2021-2022

The survey explores the well-being and experiences of people attending low-threshold meeting places during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey focused on meeting places serving disadvantaged groups. The data was collected by the University of Helsinki's Inclusive Communities sub-project, which is part of the COVID-19 in the margins of society (KoMa) project. First, respondents were asked to assess their reasons for visiting a low-threshold meeting place. These included for example basic needs, peer support, crisis situation, work try-out, substance abuse or mental health problem. Respondents were asked about the frequency of their participation in meeting place activities and the obstacles they encountered in attending. The survey also asked respondents about the benefits they had received from their visits. The survey also looked at their social and personal situation, such as trust in other people, life satisfaction and experiences of loneliness and exclusion. Next, respondents were asked to rate their own health and substance use in the last 6 months, and to rate themselves on a scale from most underprivileged to most well-off. Respondents were then asked which factors were most important for their own coping in 2021. Finally, respondents were asked to rate the accessibility and adequacy of the services they had used in the past year. Background variables included the respondent's gender, NUTS2 major region, statistical grouping of municipalities, level of education, main activity, type of housing, own and parents' country of birth, and information on household structure and financial situation.