HMN 2025: How Social risks can accumulate in specialized psychiatric care, as complex life situations go unnoticed

Patients in specialized psychiatric care face a variety of social risks that are intertwined, according to a new study from the University of Eastern Finland published in Nordic Social Work Research. Social risks tend to accumulate among the most vulnerable segments of the population. They include, for example, financial difficulties, housing challenges and violence.

“The study sheds light on the complex life situations that patients in psychiatric care face in their daily lives. The accumulation of social risks is very common, but they may go unnoticed,” Doctoral Researcher Essi Rovamo says.

The study identified social risks across nine different categories, which included capacity to work, social relations, addictions, subsistence, violence and crime, ability to function, intergenerational transmission, housing, and renouncement and death of a loved one.

The study employed a mixed methods approach to analyze patient case records of approximately 200 patients from 2009 to 2019.

Social risks accumulate among the most vulnerable

In the study, 94% of participants experienced at least two main risk categories simultaneously. On average, patients experienced five social risk categories during their psychiatric treatment.

“Social risks were experienced by all patient groups, regardless of age, gender or family status. This indicates a high prevalence of social risks among psychiatric patients,” Rovamo says.

The study found that psychosis and substance use disorders were associated with social risks, suggesting that risks tend to accumulate among those in the most vulnerable positions.

The findings offer valuable insight for developing psychiatric care. Addressing social risks could help alleviate the burden patients experience in their everyday lives. The results also underscore the importance of health social work in psychiatric care.

“In Finland, the development of psychiatric care seems to be increasingly focused on short-term psychotherapies. However, it is impossible to concentrate on therapy if the basic conditions of life are not provided for. With the recent cutbacks in health social work in Finland, it is concerning that complex social problems may go unnoticed in psychiatric care. I hope this study will, for its part, highlight the need to promote patients’ comprehensive well-being,” Rovamo concludes.

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