The Social Determinants of Traveller Women’s Health
In 2017 Cork Healthy Cities collaborated with University College Cork and the Southern Traveller Health Network to produce research into the Food and Exercise Choices of Traveller Women.
Cronin et al Report on the Traveller Womens Food Physical Activity and Health Study 2016
Irish Traveller Women’s Food, Physical Activity and Health Study. Irish Travellers are an ethnic minority experiencing serious health inequities. This video examines the impact of the social determinants of health on Traveller women’s food and exercise choices.
The Southern Traveller Health Network, a Traveller community development organisation, wanted to research why, despite receiving so much health education Traveller women still experienced high levels of obesity and overweight. University College Cork undertook this qualitative study with a group of Traveller women.
The study shows that chronic stress, racial discrimination, cultural norms and family influences were the underlying causes of Traveller women’s food choices and consumption. It challenges the individual behaviour and personal choice model which dominates the current health education with Traveller women.
The culmination of this research was the production of the following 2 videos which outline the research and the Social Determinants of Traveller Health.