Technical Report - Donegal Traveller's Project

Health Survey FindingsStudy Aims and PrinciplesStudy Aims• To count the number of Travellers living on the island of Ireland• To document fertility rates, the number of births (prospectively) and deaths (retrospectively) ofTravellers over a period of one year on the island of Ireland• To follow a birth cohort of Traveller infants over a period of 1 year prospectively documentingoutcomes, and uptake of services including vaccinations• To document the health status of Travellers living on the island of Ireland• To determine the factors influencing the health status of Travellers and their access to social andhealth services currently available/utilised by Travellers on the island of Ireland• To document qualitatively the attitudes/perceptions of Irish Travellers to health servicesStudy PrinciplesDuring the consultation process for the AITHS a number of principles were proposed that were toguide all stages of the study. These were endorsed by the study team tender to form the rationale andbasis for the study:• Key local, regional and national Traveller policies, strategies and programmes• A holistic model of health and a broad view of the factors that affect and impact on Traveller health.These factors include education, accommodation, the experience of racism and discrimination,health and social services and lifestyles• Principles of equality, human rights, social inclusion, anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-discriminatory andanti-poverty values• Respect for Traveller values, beliefs and perceptions as well as other parts of Traveller cultureincluding nomadism• Training and resourcing to ensure that Travellers and Traveller organisations build their researchcapacity to participate fully in all stages of the study• Support to ensure participation of relevant health and social service providers in all relevant stagesof the study• Confidentiality for all participants, with proper procedures that adhere to data protection legislationand established frameworks for research ethics• Appropriate qualitative and quantitative methods to collect, analyse and interpret data• Linkages to ongoing international research with ethnic minorities3