Nuorten palvelut yksinäisyyden lievittäjänä? Kohdennetun nuorisotyön piirissä olevien nuorten aikuisten ja ammattilaisten näkemysten tarkastelua

Recent studies have found that young adults involved in targeted youth work feel lonely relatively often. In this article, we scrutinise the views of young adults and youth workers on alleviating loneliness in targeted youth work. The data of the study consist of group interviews with youth workers (n = 29) and offline (n = 16) and online (n = 41) group discussions with young adults. Categorisations stemming from previous research in methods to reduce loneliness were utilised in analysing the data. Our analysis indicates that both youth work professionals and young adults consider one-on-one counselling as a form of social support and as a feasible starting point for tackling loneliness. Further, peer group activities were seen as an important method for offering social opportunities, even though the professionals had faced difficulties in recruiting young adults to participate in group activities. Moreover, it is notable that, compared to the professionals, the young adults rather strongly emphasised the opportunities that online sociability could provide. When aiming to alleviate loneliness in the context of targeted youth work, it would be beneficial to recognise the variety of individual-level and group-based methods.