“I’m like this with everyone” Everyday realities of minority stress

Abstract

This thesis aims to explore how minority stress experienced by girls aged 9 to 18 from foreign backgrounds in East Helsinki was assessed by workers at Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) in Helsinki / Helsingin Nuorten Naisten Kristillinen Yhdistys (Helsingin NNKY). The purpose of this thesis was to examine the assessment practices used in daily work and how the work life partner can strengthen these practices. The topic was regarded as topical due to the increasing population diversity in Finland and the limited research on minority stress among foreign background girls.

A human-rights framework and an intersectional lens guided the analysis, as these approaches helped clarify how overlapping forms of discrimination shaped the minority stress experiences described in the interviews. The data consisted of three semi-structured interviews with workers at YWCA, Helsinki. The data was collected online, transcribed, and analysed qualitatively with thematic analysis. The analysis was carried out inductively so that codes and themes were formed through repeated examination of the transcripts.

The most significant result was that minority stress was assessed through ongoing observation, interaction and reflective discussion rather than through formal tools. Assessments were strengthened when interaction occurred in safe spaces that offered room for open expression and participation in peer support.

This work suggests that further research is necessary to find out how assessment of minority stress could be made more systematic and how the perspectives of the children themselves could be included safely and ethically in future studies.

Keywords: Minority Stress, Girls with a foreign background, Safe spaces, Youth Work