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All Ireland Traveller Health Study (AITHS)

Study Number (SN): 0003-00

ABOUT THE STUDY

The All Ireland Traveller Health Study (AITHS) is the first study of Traveller health status and health needs that involves all Travellers living on the island of Ireland, North and South. It arose from a recommendation in the Department of Health and Children’s National Traveller Health Strategy - 2002-2005 (Department of Health and Children, 2002): ‘A Traveller Needs Assessment and Health Status Study to be carried out to develop and extend the indicators collected in the last survey of Travellers’ Health Status(HRB, 1987) and to inform appropriate actions in the area of Travellers’ Health’.

Following the publication of the National Traveller Health Strategy, the Institute of Public Health (IPH) was commissioned by the Department of Health and Children in the Republic of Ireland (ROI), and supported by Pavee Point, a national Traveller Organisation in ROI, to undertake a comprehensive consultation process throughout Ireland to ascertain the views of Travellers, Traveller organisations, the HSE and health personnel in relation to the scope and conduct of the AITHS. This consultation involved over 600 people throughout the regions and was completed in December 2003 with a national conference.

The IPH then submitted a report to the Department of Health and Children, which was developed into a scoping document for an All Ireland Traveller Health Study (AITHS) and was put out to tender. The AITHS is jointly funded by the Department of Health and Children and the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (NI), with fieldwork funding support by the HSE and FAS.

In June 2007 the School of Public Health and Population Science, University College Dublin, was awarded the contract for the AITHS. The study team worked in collaboration with the HSE and Travellers and Traveller organisations throughout the island of Ireland to conduct this research.

The study aims were to:

• To count the number of Travellers living on the island of Ireland
• To document fertility rates, the number of births (prospectively) and deaths (retrospectively) of
• Travellers 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 documenting outcomes, 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 and health services currently available/utilised by Travellers on the island of Ireland
• To document qualitatively the attitudes/perceptions of Irish Travellers to health services

To examine the health status of Travellers, to assess the impact of the health services currently being provided and to identify the factors which influence mortality and health status, this study will provide a framework for policy development and practice in relation to Travellers.

MAIN TOPICS

• Health
• Health Service Utilisation
• Accommodation and Living Conditions
• Social Support, Employment
• Level of Education
• Experience of Racism and Discrimination
• Diet and Eating Patterns
• Alcohol Consumption
• Smoking
• Drug Taking
• Exercise

DATA AND DOCUMENTATION: FILES’ DESCRIPTION

Data (available through ISSDA application process)

Documentation (available for download)

LINKS

http://www.ucd.ie/phpps/research/aithsstudy/

ACCESS INFORMATION

Accessing the data

To access the data, please complete a ISSDA Data Request Form for Research Purposes, sign it, and send it to ISSDA by email.

Data will be disseminated on receipt of a fully completed, signed form. Incomplete or unsigned forms will be returned to the data requester for completion.

For teaching purposes, please complete the ISSDA Data Request Form for Teaching Purposes, and follow the procedures, as above. This covers sharing of data with students in a classroom situation. Teaching requests are approved on a once-off module/workshop basis. Subsequent occurances of the module/workshop require a new teaching request form. If students will subsequently using data for projects/assignments they must submit their own request form for Research Purposes. Please contact us if you have any queries.

Acknowledgements

Any work based in whole or part on resources provided by the ISSDA, should  acknowledge: “All Ireland Traveller Health Study (AITHS)" and also ISSDA, in the following way: “Accessed via the Irish Social Science Data Archive - www.ucd.ie/issda”.

Citation requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Notification

The user shall notify the Irish Social Science Data Archive of all publications where she or he has used the data.

For a list of other Sports related datasets click here.

For a list of Health related datasets click here.