Technical Report - Donegal Traveller's Project

All Ireland Traveller Health Studytraining for the study coordinators to process the information and give feedback (e.g. on the questionsfor inclusion in the instrument; the application of the protocols at local level and the training of the PeerResearchers on the electronic instrument).The laptops were disseminated at the final training session on 9th September. 180 computers weredistributed to the 400 Peer Researchers in the Republic of Ireland. 36 computers were distributed to the72 Peer Researchers in Northern Ireland at a later time.Following feedback from the training sessions, the study coordinators worked intensively with the PeerResearchers in preparation for the census, ensuring that both they themselves and the Peer Researcherwere fully competent in, and confident with, the use of the electronic audiovisual instrument. PeerResearchers worked in teams and shared a computer. More Peer Researchers were trained than wererequired to allow for replacements and to allow the Peer Researchers to work flexible hours. Thistraining provided by the study coordinators and the time and effort of the Peer Researchers provedinvaluable and led directly to the success of the census. The local experience and knowledge of thestudy coordinators once again proved vital as they were able to roll out the study at a pace suited tothe local context and capacity of their Peer Researcher teams.The study website held information about the role of study coordinators and the Peer Researcherteams. This information was outlined in our detailed protocols, along with the final training folderwith copies of all presentations and handouts from the training ‘Trainer’s Training Course’, and theinformation was available to download.At completion of training, there were 54 centres around Ireland that had trainer coordinators andwho had trained 400 highly competent Traveller Peer Researchers. These Peer Researchers ultimatelygathered and uploaded the census data.Consultation ForumThe ongoing link with the study coordinators through electronic feedback and discussions duringtraining allowed the Team also link through them to the Peer Researchers and local Travellers forconsultation and piloting of the design and adaptation of the study instruments and protocols.Communication and Dissemination of Information on the StudyStudy PromotionThere were several information meetings with various stakeholders before the study was formallylaunched on 10th July, 2007 in Croke Park. The national publicity campaign was multi-media in formatand included radio (e.g., ‘The Last Word with Matt Cooper’) and newspapers (e.g., the Irish Times andthe Irish Independent) and was broadened to include national television (e.g., ‘Nationwide’).58