Technical Report - Donegal Traveller's Project

All Ireland Traveller Health StudyInstrument Development and PilotingTraveller Census and Quantitative StudyThe objective of the census was to provide population estimates broken down by sex, age, region,nature of accommodation, access to facilities and services. Every Traveller family enumerated in themapping and scoping exercise on the island of Ireland was invited to participate in the census part ofthis study.For the purposes of this study, a family unit was determined from an adaptation of the Central StatisticsOffice (CSO) definition (Central Statistics Office, 2007c):• a husband and wife or a cohabiting couple; or• a husband and wife or a cohabiting couple together with one or more usually resident nevermarriedchildren (of any age); or• one parent together with one or more usually resident never-married children (of any age)• one person living alone• only people who normally live with the family will be included in a family unitThe study team expanded the CSO definition to include an additional category where Travellers coulddetermine who were members of their family unit to incorporate the inclusion of, for example, a fosterchild or niece who may be living with them as a member of their family.The objective of the health status and health services utilisation studies was to obtain informationon health status and factors affecting it and to obtain information on service utilisation and factorsaffecting it.The study team devised different instruments for this survey, a census section, health status for adults,health status for children and health services utilisation for adults. The team also developed proxyquestionnaires for the health status and health utilisation for adults.Questionnaire DesignThe final questionnaire used was determined after wide consultation to ensure that the questionswere appropriate and acceptable to the Traveller population. It included questions taken from previousstudies with Travellers (O’Donovan et al., 1995) and national surveys, e.g. Lifeways Cross-GenerationCohort Study (‘Lifeways’ hereafter), and also covered areas such identified in the scoping document.These included:• employment status• level of education• social support• general health status• specific experience of racism and discrimination• behavioural risk factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, drug taking, dietary intake and eatingpatterns, exercise)52