Van Hout Marie Claire
School of Health Sciences, Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland.
Community Pract. 2010 May;83(5):27-30.
Travellers in Ireland continue to experience health disparity, cultural fragmentation and a lack of visibility in health service provision. This paper reports on a pilot study exploring factors that affect Traveller health and the experiences of primary care services from the perspectives of key Traveller health stakeholders in Ireland. The study was designed as an initial consultative forum using a single focus group (n = 13) in order to yield specific recommendations for the development of a designated primary care service framework for Travellers. A thematic analysis of the narratives identified key areas of interest--emerging issues in Traveller health, recognition of Traveller culture and ethnic identity,Traveller uptake of primary care services, the role of the primary health care Traveller (PHCT) worker, and recommendations for a primary care service framework for Travellers in Ireland. The findings highlight the importance of consulting Traveller communities in the design of a primary care service framework within each local needs analysis. The promotion of Traveller advocacy, visible access and referral pathways can therefore be achieved, with PHCT workers acting as a 'bridge' between Travellers and the designated area primary care team.
在爱尔兰的旅行者在医疗服务提供方面持续面临健康差异、文化分裂以及缺乏关注的问题。本文报告了一项试点研究，该研究从爱尔兰主要旅行者健康利益相关者的角度，探讨影响旅行者健康的因素以及初级医疗服务的体验。该研究设计为一个初始咨询论坛，采用单一焦点小组（n = 13），以便为制定旅行者指定初级医疗服务框架提出具体建议。对这些叙述进行的主题分析确定了关键感兴趣领域——旅行者健康中的新出现问题、对旅行者文化和种族身份的认可、旅行者对初级医疗服务的接受情况、初级医疗旅行者（PHCT）工作人员的角色，以及为爱尔兰旅行者初级医疗服务框架提出的建议。研究结果凸显了在每个地方需求分析中设计初级医疗服务框架时咨询旅行者社区的重要性。因此，通过PHCT工作人员在旅行者与指定地区初级医疗团队之间充当“桥梁”，可以实现促进旅行者宣传、明显的就医途径和转诊途径。
