ERIS Experts - Sari Rissanen

Ageing is challenging our social work practices and health and social care service provision both nationally and internationally. The increasing physical, psychological and social needs of elderly people can be recognized at client level, organizational level and at policy level in nearly all European countries.

Professor Sari Rissanen is one of ERIS’s experts specializing in gerontological social work and health and social services, especially on the organizational level. She is currently working at the University of Eastern Finland as a part-time Professor of Social Work, focusing on welfare services (at the Department of Social Sciences), and as a part-time senior lecturer in Health and Social Management (at the Department of Health and Social Management).

Her multidisciplinary research group has addressed various elderly care issues from multi-agency perspectives (e.g. clients, employees, entrepreneurs or relatives). The research focuses on the role of private health and social care in services provision, mergers and quality of home care and home help, wellbeing of the elderly and poverty among elderly people. She has been a partner in the EU-funded Care and Management of Services for Older People in Europe Network and is now a partner in a project entitled Innovating Care for People with Multiple Chronic Conditions in Europe (coordinated by NIVEL). On a national level she previously coordinated the project „Constructing well-being in elderly care – organisation, design and management as key elements“, funded by the Academy of Finland.

Publications and research:

Articles (selected)

  • Rissanen Sari & Sinkkkonen Sirkka 2005: Private Social Services in Finland. The Effects on Social Work. Nordic Journal of Social Work 25:4:312-324.
  • Rissanen Sari, Hujala Anneli & Helisten Merja 2010: The state and future of social service enterprises – A Finnish case. European Journal of Social Work 13:3:319-337.
  • Kaarakainen Minna, Rissanen Sari & Kinnunen Juha: 2010: Long Waves of Decentralization in Public Management: A Case Study of Finnish Public Health Care. World future review. 2010:20-29.
  • Rissanen Sari, Hujala Anneli, Laukkanen Virpi, Helisten Merja & Taskinen Helena 2011: Start-up motivations and growth orientation of owners of family business - a  care entrepreneurship approach. Electronic Journal of Family Business Studies 5:1-2:55-73.
  • Hujala A & Rissanen Sari 2011: Organizational Aesthetics in Nursing Homes. Journal of Nursing Management 19:439-448.
  • Paljärvi Soili, Rissanen Sari, Sinkkonen Sirkka & Paljärvi Leo 2011: What happens to quality in integrated home care? A 15-Year follow-up study. Journal of Integrated Care 11:1-14.
  • Hakulinen Hanna, Rissanen Sari & Lammintakanen Johanna 2011: "How is the NPM applied in the occupational health care system?" - policymakers' and OH personnel's perspectives in Finland. Health Research Policy and Systems 9:34. p. 14.
  • Hujala Anneli & Rissanen Sari 2012: Discursive construction of polyphony in healthcare management. Journal of Health Organization and Management 26:1:118-136.
  • Kokkonen Kaija, Rissanen Sari & Hujala Anneli 2012: The match between institutional elderly care management research and management challenges – a systematic literature review. Health Research Policy and Systems 10(No)p. 27.
  • Blažun Helena, Saranto Kaija & Rissanen Sari 2012: Impact of computer training courses on loneliness reduction of older people in Slovenia and Finland. Computers in Human Behavior 28:4:1202–1212.
  • Kälviäinen Mirja, Rissanen Sari, Hujala Anneli & Komu Hannele 2010: Kansei search for elderly care home design guidelines. The proceedings of the Kansei engineering and emotion research. France. 2.-4. March, p. 10.
  • Anneli Hujala, Sari. Rissanen & Susann Vihma (eds.) 2013: Designing Wellbeing in Elderly Care Homes. Aalto University publication series. Crossover. Helsinki. Open access.
  • Rissanen Sari 2013: Wellbeing and Environment - Concepts in the Elderly Care Home Context. In Anneli Hujala, Sari Rissanen & Susann Vihma (eds.) Designing Wellbeing in Elderly Care Homes. Aalto University publication series. Crossover. Helsinki. 20-35. Open access.
  • Hujala Anneli & Rissanen Sari 2013: Organizational Aesthetics – New Dimension of Wellbeing? In Anneli Hujala, Sari Rissanen & Susann Vihma (eds.) Designing Wellbeing in Elderly Care Homes. Aalto University publication series. Crossover. Helsinki. 114-129. Open access.
  • Komu Hannele, Rissanen Sari & Kälviäinen Mirja 2013: Physical Environments of Care Homes – Some Finnish Case Examples. In Anneli Hujala, Sari. Rissanen, Susann Vihma (eds.), Designing Wellbeing in Elderly Care Homes. Aalto University publication series. Crossover. Helsinki. 192-204. Open access.
  • Genet Nadine, Boerma Wienke, Rissanen Sari 2013: Finland: Genet Nadine, Boerma Wienke, Kroneman Madelon, Hutchinson Allen, Saltman B Richard, Home Care across Europe - Case studies. European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. 86-97. Open access.
  • Mieke Rijken, Verena Struckmann, Mariana Dyakova, Maria Gabriella Melchiorre, Sari Rissanen, Ewout van Ginneken 2013: ICARE4EU: Improving care for people with multiple chronic conditions in Europe. EUROHEALTH 19 3: 29-31.

Updated: 12. 03. 2017