All Ireland Traveller Health Study
Respondents thought it about as likely (42.6%) or more likely (6.5%) that Travellers would make use of antenatal services. There was no significant difference according to jurisdiction. Again, compared with the responses to other questions, Traveller women seemed to come close to meeting the expectation of Service Providers for this type of care, with 38.8% rating it about as likely and 6.3% more likely that Travellers would make use of postnatal services. This may suggest something about how Traveller women use antenatal care in contrast to other services. Travellers were considered by a majority of respondents (57.3%) as either less likely or much less likely to make use of any screening services offered, with a highly significant pattern according to professional grouping, GPs rating it as least likely compared to the other groupings. Likelihood in being prescribed medication marks a change in trend of response, a majority in both jurisdictions thinking it either about as likely (65.8% NI and 56.4% ROI) or more likely (18.4% NI and 19.1% ROI) than anyone else. There was however a highly significant difference according to professional grouping, a clear majority of hospital staff (73.9%) thinking this about as likely as anyone else. There are striking differences between the 3 Traveller demographic groupings in the timing of their presentation of care, with men reported as especially likely to present late and children most likely to be early or on time. There is no significant difference in this pattern according to jurisdiction. GPs were significantly more likely to think children presented early or on time, whereas both hospital and other staff categories were significantly more likely to think women present late than GPs. Again, this may reflect the different ways in which services are used and the sequence of referrals.
Section D: Health Status
Respondents were asked to rate in importance factors having an impact on Traveller health. This of course, represents a purely external view of the determinants of Traveller health, but it is of interest to see what Service Providers think affects Traveller health. A clear majority, in both jurisdictions, considered all these wider determinants as of some importance. A clear majority (78.3%) of respondents considered socio-economic factors as either important or very important to Traveller health. Socio-economic factors were considered as either important or very important in both jurisdictions (72.9% in NI and 79.2% in ROI). Whilst a large majority of all professional groupings similarly agreed, the Other grouping was clearly the most likely to consider such factors very important (60.7%).
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