Addressing diabetes health disparities of Latinos in New York City through faith-based interventions

Background: Latino communities are disproportionately affected by diabetes in the United States. Bronx Health REACH, a coalition of over 70 community-based organizations, developed a Faith-Based Outreach Initiative (FBOI) to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in diabetes outcomes in New York City.

Methods: Baseline surveys were conducted at 16 churches (8 Latino/8 African-American/African) prior to offering the FBOI programs. The survey contained questions about health status, knowledge and attitudes, healthcare utilization, and health disparities. Surveys were administered to congregants present at church services by evaluation staff.

Results: In total, 952 participants were surveyed (330 Latinos and 622 African-Americans/Africans). Most Latino participants were 18-44 years old (49%), female (69%), and overweight or obese (71%). Twenty-two percent of Latino participants reported having diabetes, compared to 8.2% of Latinos nationally. An additional 24% were at high risk for developing diabetes. Compared to diabetic African-American/African participants, Latinos with diabetes reported fewer diabetes related doctor visits (p<.05). The data also suggest that Latinos receive fewer routine diabetes management checkups such as foot and eye exams. Despite attending church more often than African-Americans, Latino participants were less likely to attend health promotion activities within their church (p<.05). Latino participants were also less likely to report experiencing negative encounters with the health care system than their African-American counterparts (p<.05).

Conclusions: Health promotion activities for disenfranchised populations require community specific data collection, analysis, and timely adaptation of interventions. This study will help identify key elements for developing a faith-based diabetes initiative that meets the needs of Latinos in a low-income urban community.