Consultative Hospital School Education Service in Finland (CHSS)

Refine your search

Research group

01.08.2026 - 31.12.2035

University of Eastern Finland Teacher Training School, Philosophical Faculty

Information People

Consultative Hospital School Education Service in Finland (CHSS) is a research group composed of researchers from three universities, led by Professor Tanja Äärelä (University of Lapland) and Associate Professors Jyrki Huusko (University of Eastern Finland) and Harri Antikainen (University of Oulu). The research group also includes doctoral researchers Heta-Maria Korkala (University of Oulu) and Saana-Lotta Korkala (University of Lapland).

Consultative hospital school education services became statutory on 1 August 2025. Prior to this legal status, a hospital school consultation service was organised through a special grant from the Ministry of Education and Culture, within which hospital school consultation was provided more than 15,000 times in total. During the project period, research data was produced on consultative hospital teaching that defined the forms and needs of consultation. Publications based on this research data have already been produced (e.g. Äärelä & Huusko 2024). More information about the Significant Interprofessional Support – research and development (SIS) group can be found via this link: https://uefconnect.uef.fi/vaativa-monialainen-tuki-tutkimus-ja-kehittaminen-vaatu/

This research group examines the statutory consultative hospital school education service not only from the perspective of the quantity and quality of consultation but also from the perspective of geoinformatics. The study forms a continuum with the researchers’ previous work (Äärelä, Määttä & Uusiautti 2016, Äärelä & Huusko 2019, Äärelä & Huusko 2021, Huusko & Äärelä 2021, Äärelä & Huusko 2022, Äärelä & Huusko 2024, Huusko, Äärelä & Pietarinen 2024, and Äärelä & Huusko 2025).

The initiative for this research came from the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Finnish National Agency for Education. The study is carried out in cooperation and collaboration with the Finnish Hospital School Education Network. This network includes all 24 hospital school education units operating in Finland.