Research

Beating the Odds: Facilitating Lifestyle Change in Urban Latino Young Adults with Diabetes

Health outcomes are poor among young adults with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Urban, low-SES Latino young adults with diabetes may be at particularly high risk. Community-based lifestyle interventions have been effective in reducing health declines and improving quality of life among patient populations with, or at risk for, chronic disease or disability, and may have potential for improving health outcomes among young Latino adults with diabetes. This study sought to address the following three research questions, with the overarching goal of improving diabetes care for this population: (1) How do lifestyle factors influence urban, low-SES Latino young adults’ ability to effectively manage diabetes? (2) What are the key lifestyle factors to address in an intervention aimed at this population? (3) Would such an intervention approach have the potential to improve health and quality of life outcomes in this population?