Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T09:05:21.017Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - “Where are our costumes?”: the All Ireland Traveller Health Study – our Geels 2007–2011

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2014

By
Cecily C. Kelleher  and
Brigid Quirke
Edited by
Roger Tourangeau ,
Brad Edwards ,
Timothy P. Johnson ,
Kirk M. Wolter  and
Nancy Bates
Cecily C. Kelleher
Affiliation:
UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population Science, Dublin
Brigid Quirke
Affiliation:
UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population Science, Dublin
Roger Tourangeau
Affiliation:
Westat Research Organisation, Maryland
Brad Edwards
Affiliation:
Westat Research Organisation, Maryland
Timothy P. Johnson
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Chicago
Kirk M. Wolter
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
Nancy Bates
Affiliation:
US Census Bureau
Get access

Summary

The Traveller community

In this chapter, we describe the methodology for the All Ireland Traveller Health Study (AITHS) from inception to completion. This population is hard to reach in that it is nomadic, has traditionally been closed to outsiders, and is highly disadvantaged in both material and psychosocial terms, including generally low literacy levels, so it fulfills the criteria for this volume in several key respects. In methodological terms, as we describe, it is highly novel in the solutions employed to overcome these challenges and it is also a very large-scale study by the standards of the literature on ethnic minorities.

In August 2012 at the Olympics Games in London, a young boxer named John Joe Nevin won a silver medal and indeed got within a few adjudication points of winning a gold one. A native of a middle-sized country town in the midlands of Ireland called Mullingar, in a games of outstanding human achievement by many athletes who are global household names, such as Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, this young man Nevin had duly taken his place in this illustrious company amongst the nations of the world as an Irish Traveller. In this chapter, we describe how we undertook a census survey of his people in a landmark collaboration that was a research initiative for, with, and by Travellers themselves.

Type
Chapter
Information
Hard-to-Survey Populations , pp. 201 - 222
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdalla, S., Quirke, B., Fitzpatrick, P., Drummond, A., Daly, L., & Kelleher, C. C. (2010). Vital Statistics Reports. Department of Health and Children. Dublin: Stationery Office. Retrieved from .Google Scholar
All Ireland Traveller Health Study Team. (2010). Summary and Technical Reports. Department of Health and Children. Dublin: Stationery Office. Retrieved from .Google Scholar
Barry, J., & Daly, L. (1986). Travellers’ Health Status Study Census of Travelling People. Dublin: The Health Research Board.Google Scholar
Barry, J., Herity, B., & Solan, J. (1989). The Travellers’ Health Status Study – Vital Statistics of Travelling People, 1987. Dublin: The Health Research Board.Google Scholar
Benoit, C., Jansson, M., Millar, A., & Phillips, R. (2005). Community-academic research on hard-to-reach populations: benefits and challenges. Qualitative Health Research, 15, 263–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Breathnach, A. (2006). Becoming Conspicuous: Irish Travellers, Society and the State 1922–70. Dublin: Dublin University Press.Google Scholar
Dahlgren, G., & Whitehead, M. (1991). Policies and Strategies to Promote Social Equity in Health. Background document to WHO: Strategy paper for Europe. Arbeitsrapport vol. 14. Stockholm: Institute for Futures Studies.Google Scholar
Davey Smith, G., Ebrahim, S., & Eggar, M. (2000). Should health promotion be exempt from rigorous evaluation? In Edmondson, R. & Kelleher, C. (eds.), Health Promotion: new discipline or multidiscipline? (pp. 18–28). Dublin: Irish Academic Press.Google Scholar
Department of Health and Children. (2002). Traveller Health– A National Strategy 2002–2005. Dublin: Department of Health and Children.Google Scholar
Fraser, D. G., Dougill, A. J., Mabee, W. E., Reed, M., & McAlpine, P. (2006). Bottom up and top down: analysis of participatory processes for sustainability indicator identification as a pathway to community empowerment and sustainable environmental management. Journal of Environmental Management, 78, 114–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Friel, S., Kelleher, C. C., Nolan, G., & Harrington, J. (2003). Social diversity of Irish adults’ nutritional intake. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 57(7), 865–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gmelch, G., & Gmelch, S. (1976). The emergence of an ethnic group: the Irish Tinkers. Anthropological Quarterly, 49(4), 225–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Government Publications. (2000). The Equal Status Act, 2000. Retrieved from .
Hamid, N. A., Quirke, B., Turner, J., Daly., L., Kelleher, C. C., & Fitzpatrick, P. (2011). Report of Follow-Up of Birth Cohort Study. Department of Health and Children. Dublin: Stationery Office. Retrieved from .Google Scholar
Harper, J., & Hudson, C. (1971). Irish Traveller Cant. Journal of English Linguistics, 5, 78–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Institute of Public Health in Ireland. (2004). Design of the Travellers’ All Ireland Health Study: Details. Dublin: Institute of Public Health of Ireland.Google Scholar
Jackson, R., Chambless, L. E., Yang, K., Byrne, T., Watson, R., Folsom, A., et al. (1996). Differences between respondents and non-respondents in a multicenter community-based study vary by gender and ethnicity. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 49, 1441–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelleher, C. C., Lynch, J. W., Daly, L., Harper, S., Fitz-Simon, N., Bimpeh, Y., et al. (2006). The “Americanisation” of migrants: evidence for the contribution of ethnicity, social deprivation, lifestyle and life-course processes to the mid-20th century Coronary Heart Disease epidemic in the US. Social Science & Medicine, 63(2), 465–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kelleher, C. C., Lynch, J., Harper, S., Tay, J. B., & Nolan, G. (2004). Hurling alone? How social capital failed to save the Irish from cardiovascular disease in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 94(12), 2162–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kelleher, C. C., Whelan, J., Daly, L., & Fitzpatrick, P. (2012). Socio-demographic, environmental, lifestyle and psychosocial factors predict self-rated health in Irish Travellers, a minority nomadic population. Health & Place, 18, 330–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kenny, M., & McNeela, E. (2005). Assimilation Policies and Outcomes: Travellers’ Experience. Report on a Research Project Commissioned by Pavee Point Travellers’ Centre. Dublin: Pavee Point.Google Scholar
Laverack, G., & Labonte, R. (2000). A planning framework for community empowerment goals within health promotion. Health Policy and Planning, 15(3), 255–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lynch, S. A., Foulds, N., Thuresson, A. C., Collins, A. L., Annerén, G., Hedberg, B. O., et al. (2011). The 12q14 microdeletion syndrome; 6 new cases confirming the role of HMGA2 in growth. European Journal of Human Genetics, 19, 534–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDonagh, R. (2002). The web of self-identity: racism, sexism and disabilism. In Lentin, R. & Mcveigh, R. (eds.), Racism and Anti-Racism in Ireland. Belfast: Beyond the Pale Publications.Google Scholar
McGorrian, C., Daly, L., Fitzpatrick, P., Hamid, N. A., Malone, K. M., Kelleher, C. C. (2013). Frequent mental distress (FMD) in Irish Travellers: discrimination and bereavement negatively influence mental health in the All-Ireland Traveller Health Study. Transcultural Psychiatry, 50, 559–78.CrossRef
McGorrian, C., Daly, L., Fitzpatrick, P., Moore, R. G., Turner, J., & Kelleher, C. C. (2011). Cardiovascular disease and risk factors in an indigenous minority population. The All-Ireland Traveller Health Study. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 19, 1444–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGorrian, C., Frazer, K., Daly, L., Moore, R. G., Turner, J., Sweeney, , et al. (2012). The health care experiences of Travellers compared to the general population: the All-Ireland Traveller Health Study. Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, 17(3), 173–80.Google ScholarPubMed
MacGreil, M. (2011). Emancipation of Travellers. Maynooth: National University College, Maynooth.Google Scholar
McPherson, K. (2000). Methodologies and evaluation in public health and health promotion. In Edmondson, R. & Kelleher, C. (eds.), Health promotion: new discipline or multidiscipline? (pp. 129–44). Dublin: Irish Academic Press.Google Scholar
O’Donovan, O., McCarthy, P., McKenna, V., McCarthy, D., & Kelleher, C. C. (1995). Health service provision for the Traveller community in Ireland. InAppendix to Report of the Task Force on the Travelling Community. Dublin: Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Quirke, B. (2006a). A review of Travellers’ health using primary care as a model of good practice. Pavee Point Primary Healthcare for Travellers Project. Dublin: Pavee Point.Google Scholar
Quirke, B. (2006b). Health inequalities in Ireland: the reality of Travellers’ health. In O’Connor, T. & Murphy, M. (eds.), Social Care in Ireland: Theory, Policy and Practice. Cork: CIT Press.Google Scholar
Task Force on the Traveller Community. (1995). Report of the Task Force on the Traveller Community. Dublin: Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Tones, K. (2000). Evaluating health promotion: judicial review as a new gold standard. In Edmondson, R. & Kelleher, C. (eds.), Health Promotion: New Discipline or Multidiscipline? (pp. 29–45). Dublin: Irish Academic Press.Google Scholar
Tumiel-Berhalter, L. M., McLaughlin-Diaz, V., Vena, J., & Crespo, C. J. (2007). Building community research capacity: process evaluation of community training in a community-based participatory research program serving a predominantly Puerto-Rican community. Programme for Community Health Partnership, 1(1), 89–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UK Parliament Race Relations Order. (1997). Retrieved from .
World Health Organization. (2007). A conceptual framework for action on the social determinants of health. Commission on Social Determinants of Health: World Health Organization, Geneva. .Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×