Technical Report - Donegal Traveller's Project

All Ireland Traveller Health StudySocial Capital and Social SupportGeneral SummaryROI respondents gave a broad range of responses to the statement that generally speaking, mostpeople can be trusted: a quarter strongly disagreed (25.8%) and a tenth strongly agreed (10.2%). Therewere no notable differences by sex and the oldest age group was somewhat more in agreement thanothers with the statement. In NI the most frequent category (42.6%) was the neutral one of neitheragreeing nor disagreeing, and younger people were more likely to agree than older respondents.The number one grouping, providing respondents with a lot of support in ROI, were parents (53.3%),followed by spouse or partner (50.4%), with support from other sources lower. In NI, parents alsoranked first (46.1%). However spouse or partner ranked fourth (27.0%) after other sources such as otherrelatives, children and friends. Partner was not applicable in respondent’s situation for 61.0% in NIcompared with 29.6% in ROI.There was a broad range of responses to the question of whether respondents ever felt discriminatedagainst or made to feel inferior as a member of the Traveller community. The situations most frequentlycited as never occasioning such discrimination were on a sports team (64.9% in ROI, 58.1% NI),followed equally by obtaining insurance or a loan (60.7%) or in accessing health services (60.4%) in ROIand at work (47.2%) or accessing health services (46.0%) in NI. Nonetheless, appreciable numbers ofrespondents cited frequent episodes of discrimination in all settings, the worst ranked setting beingserved in a shop or pub, with for instance 35.1% indicating this occurred at least 4 or more times in ROI.There were some sex differences, so that 70.4% in ROI and 60.3% in NI of women indicated they werenever discriminated against in a sports team, falling in men to 57.9% in ROI and 55.7% in NI. Youngerrespondents reported more frequency of discrimination than older people.In the past year, 47.1% in ROI and 25.2% in NI indicated that they never worried about experiencingunfair treatment; the remainder were worried some or most of the time. There was no consistent agepattern.CommentaryTo assess feelings of trust in individuals in the Traveller and other groups, participants were asked ifthey agreed with the statement, ‘Generally speaking, most people can be trusted’. It is clear that incomparison with the SLAN 2002 medical card holders, the Traveller groups felt much less trustful (Table259), with over a quarter of the ROI Travellers strongly disagreeing with this statement.218