The purpose of the thesis was to examine marginalized young adults and their effect in social and healthcare services from the perspective of social workers. The aim was to reveal the challenges of marginalization by examining the effect through the experiences of social workers. The effect was studied from the following perspective: how marginalization appears to show in the everyday life of marginalized young adults, from the perspective of social workers, how does the marginalized young adults affect on other clients, how do they affect the well-being of the social workers and how does the cooperation work between different social and health care services. Based on the above-mentioned perspective, we created a Webropol survey for data collection.

The thesis research question is “How does marginalized young adults affect social and health services from the perspective of social workers?”. Previous literature related to the subject, several master’s thesis’s, research related to the subject and laws relating to social work were used as database for the thesis. Qualitative research was chosen as the research method. The material for the thesis was collected by using an anonymous survey platform called Webropol. The Webropol survey was shared on social media in different Facebook groups where we could reach our targeted group of social workers.

The results of the study were analyzed by using category analysis and eight different categories showed up from the results. Based on the results of the study according to the social workers answers these were the eight categories how marginalization shows up in social and health care services: shattered care system, care deficit, employee´s workmanship, mental health and substance abuse problems, social exclusion, desperation, threat of violence and mental stress.

The responses showed that the greatest challenge for marginalization was perceived to be the deficiencies of the service system. The responses also reveal how marginalized young adults face care deficit, despair at one’s own situation and threats of social exclusion based on the deficiencies of the service system. The professional skills of the employees also play a large role in how the marginalized young adult is encountered. The answers show how the effect of marginalization does not only affect the clients, but also affects the social worker's mental well-being.