All Ireland Traveller Health Study Our Geels

The All Ireland Traveller Health Study (AITHS) is a very large-scale and ambitious undertaking and represents a major commitment by the sponsoring stakeholders to Traveller Health. The census of families North and South marks the completion of the first stage of this exercise. Following on from this report is the vital statistics report and the consultative process with both Travellers and Service Providers, employing both qualitative and quantitative interview methodologies. The birth cohort study is still in follow-up stage, and is a major prospective issue for the future. This final report assimilates findings from all stages of the project together with recommendations.

This is the first descriptive report based on the census survey and has 3 important characteristics:

First, it is comprehensive in that every single identifiable Traveller family on the island of Ireland was approached as a potential respondent in this study following a comprehensive scoping and mapping exercise.

Second, it achieved a very high response rate for a survey of this kind, at 80% so its findings should be representative. The cooperation of the Travellers themselves was in fact not alone critical to obtaining usable data but demonstrated the high level of trust and commitment in the process, recognition by respondents themselves that data were needed to inform future policy.

Third, the innovative methodology afforded a very detailed interview not otherwise achievable. The challenge in devising a research instrument for this study was to capture the complex whole that is the modern Traveller community, both the positive and negative aspects, and at the same time compare and contrast that experience with the general population. By developing an oral-visual electronic questionnaire, delivered by trained and committed Peer Researchers, problems of literacy were transcended,to collect in-depth data across a range of health topics, contextualised by state-of-the-art literature on health determinants. Unusually perhaps for a survey, Peer Researchers were empowered with skills and competencies transferable to other future situations.

What are the important findings of this report? The complexity and heterogeneity of the modern Traveller community in Ireland is captured as well as its commonalities currently and its links with the past. There is evidence of disadvantage, not a universal blanket picture but certainly a poorer health profile than the general population. In the 22 years since the last study the community has enlarged considerably but still has relatively modest numbers of people aged 50 years and upwards. Vital statistics are examined in more detail in the report, both the exact numbers in the current population and the patterns of mortality contributing to that population profile.