UTEP Diabetes Researcher Published in Journal’s Scholars of Color Special Issue

Last Updated on June 11, 2021 at 12:00 AM

Originally published June 11, 2021

By Laura L. Acosta

UTEP Communications

Jeannie B. Concha, Ph.D., assistant professor in The University of Texas at El Paso’s Department of Public Health Sciences, is among the authors being highlighted in a special issue of Health Education and Behavior (HE&B) journal that focuses on researchers from underrepresented populations.

Jeannie B. Concha, Ph.D., assistant professor in The University of Texas at El Paso’s Department of Public Health Sciences, is among the authors being highlighted in a special issue of Health Education and Behavior (HE&B) journal that focuses on researchers from underrepresented populations. Photo: Courtesy

Concha’s manuscript titled, “Hispanic/Latino Ethnic Identity and Diabetes: An examination of Underlying Acculturation Processes and the Hispanic/Latino Health Advantage,” appears in HE&B’s June 2021 Scholars of Color issue.

The special issue includes selected abstracts from authors of color who self-identify as either Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Southeast Asian, Pacific Islander or non-white on a variety of topics that relate to health education processes, health behaviors, and health promotion.

Concha’s paper examines the role that education has on the relationship between ethnic identity and diabetes prevalence among adult Hispanics or Latinos. Based on data from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), the study found that Hispanic or Latino adults with a high sense of ethnic identity and 16 years of education or more had a lower risk of diabetes compared with Hispanics or Latinos with a similarly high sense of ethnic identity but 13 to 15 years of education. The study can be read here.

HE&B is a peer-reviewed, bi-monthly journal that publishes authoritative empirical research and commentary on critical health issues of interest to a broad range of professionals whose work involves understanding factors associated with health behavior and evidence-based social and behavioral strategies to improve health status.