Faculty mentor/PI email address
mancusoa@rowan.edu
Is your research Teaching and Learning based?
1
Keywords
Diabetes prevalence, prediabetes, youth prediabetes, diabetes prevention education, food insecurity and diabetes, health disparities, Camden County diabetes, South Jersey diabetes.
Date of Presentation
5-6-2026 12:00 AM
Poster Abstract
BACKGROUND: Diabetes and prediabetes affect a substantial and growing portion of the U.S. population, with adolescent prediabetes rates more than doubling from 11% in 1999 to 28% in 2018. In multicultural and economically underserved South Jersey communities, structural barriers including food insecurity, limited access to preventive healthcare, and language gaps make early detection and prevention particularly difficult. We aimed to assess diabetes risk, management behaviors, and preferred education formats among a Camden-area bilingual community, and to identify culturally responsive intervention strategies.
METHODS: We conducted a literature review utilizing data from the CDC, NJ Department of Health, NJSHAD, and the U.S. Census Bureau, as well as peer-reviewed literature accessed through PubMed and PMC. Keywords included: diabetes prevalence, prediabetes, youth prediabetes, diabetes prevention education, food insecurity, health disparities, and Camden County diabetes. Additionally, a 17-question bilingual survey (English and Spanish) was administered in person at a Camden-area Hispanic-speaking church congregation and transferred to Google Forms to assess diabetes knowledge, management behaviors, symptoms, and preferred education delivery formats (n=17).
RESULTS: Camden County ranks 4th highest in New Jersey for diagnosed diabetes, with over 10% of adults affected. Community survey findings revealed that 82.4% of respondents reported a family history of diabetes, yet 70.8% had never attended a diabetes education program and 70.6% had made no lifestyle changes since diagnosis. Regarding preferred intervention formats, 70.6% favored phone-accessible resources, 58.8% preferred social media short videos, and 52.9% favored QR codes linking to bilingual materials.
CONCLUSION: These findings highlight a significant gap between diabetes risk awareness and actionable prevention in underserved South Jersey communities. Effective interventions must be bilingual, mobile-friendly, and delivered through trusted community channels. Proposed strategies include a youth baseball outreach program with pre- and post-survey evaluation, social media education campaigns, bilingual QR-linked resources, and open drop-in education sessions at community clinics, all designed to meet patients where they are and address structural determinants of health rather than focusing solely on individual behavior.
Disciplines
Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Cultural and Ethnic Studies | Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition | Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism | Health Information Technology | Inequality and Stratification | Medicine and Health Sciences | Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases | Public Health Education and Promotion | Regional Sociology
Disciplines
Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Medicine and Health Sciences | Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases
Included in
Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases Commons
Addressing Diabetes Risk Through Preventative Education in Multicultural and Economically Underserved South Jersey Communities
BACKGROUND: Diabetes and prediabetes affect a substantial and growing portion of the U.S. population, with adolescent prediabetes rates more than doubling from 11% in 1999 to 28% in 2018. In multicultural and economically underserved South Jersey communities, structural barriers including food insecurity, limited access to preventive healthcare, and language gaps make early detection and prevention particularly difficult. We aimed to assess diabetes risk, management behaviors, and preferred education formats among a Camden-area bilingual community, and to identify culturally responsive intervention strategies.
METHODS: We conducted a literature review utilizing data from the CDC, NJ Department of Health, NJSHAD, and the U.S. Census Bureau, as well as peer-reviewed literature accessed through PubMed and PMC. Keywords included: diabetes prevalence, prediabetes, youth prediabetes, diabetes prevention education, food insecurity, health disparities, and Camden County diabetes. Additionally, a 17-question bilingual survey (English and Spanish) was administered in person at a Camden-area Hispanic-speaking church congregation and transferred to Google Forms to assess diabetes knowledge, management behaviors, symptoms, and preferred education delivery formats (n=17).
RESULTS: Camden County ranks 4th highest in New Jersey for diagnosed diabetes, with over 10% of adults affected. Community survey findings revealed that 82.4% of respondents reported a family history of diabetes, yet 70.8% had never attended a diabetes education program and 70.6% had made no lifestyle changes since diagnosis. Regarding preferred intervention formats, 70.6% favored phone-accessible resources, 58.8% preferred social media short videos, and 52.9% favored QR codes linking to bilingual materials.
CONCLUSION: These findings highlight a significant gap between diabetes risk awareness and actionable prevention in underserved South Jersey communities. Effective interventions must be bilingual, mobile-friendly, and delivered through trusted community channels. Proposed strategies include a youth baseball outreach program with pre- and post-survey evaluation, social media education campaigns, bilingual QR-linked resources, and open drop-in education sessions at community clinics, all designed to meet patients where they are and address structural determinants of health rather than focusing solely on individual behavior.
Disciplines
Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Cultural and Ethnic Studies | Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition | Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism | Health Information Technology | Inequality and Stratification | Medicine and Health Sciences | Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases | Public Health Education and Promotion | Regional Sociology