Categories for Race and Ethnicity—A Commentary

The term "person of color" has been used recently to describe respondents' racial and ethnic composition in a research study. Although the term has been used widely to describe members of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, a "person of color" is not a racial or ethnic category. Thus, one would question whether this term should be used in a peer-reviewed publication to describe the race/ethnicity of individuals. Whereas, health educators often have argued the merit of the research findings presented in a refereed publication, we often avoid discussing the use of accurate terms when referring to racial and ethnic groups. The purpose of this commentary is to discuss this issue and to initiate thought and dialogue among health educators on the use of words when describing participants in health education research. Moreover, the use of proper terminology when referring to racial and ethnic groups is fundamental in the development of cultural competence in health education, (1) a concept fully supported by the American Association for Health Education (AAHE). In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau increased the pool of options to allow individuals to select more than one racial and ethnic background. (2) For example, in addition to White, African American/ Black, and American Indian/Alaskan Native; Asian and Pacific Islander individuals could select Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan, or other Asian/Pacific Islander group as a racial category. Similarly, those individuals who self-identified as Hispanic/Latino could choose from Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or other Hispanic/Latino group. These new options represented an expansion from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) race and Hispanic ethnicity categories. In August 2009, the Institute of Medicine (3) recommended the standardization of data collection of race and ethnicity based on the OMB race and Hispanic ethnicity categories and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention race and ethnicity code set. (4) Although some individuals may argue that these racial and ethnic categories are not perfect, standardization of data collection and reporting methodology will ensure compatibility with other data collection efforts and utilization of the results. This approach also will allow for a better understanding of health promotion issues among racial and ethnic populations. Health educators should follow this recommendation, as the use of standard racial and ethnic categories is fundamental in the discussion of research findings and its implication for the health education field. After all, one of our strengths as health professionals is the use of public health and epidemiological data in health education research. Thus, why should we use a term (i.e., person of color, minorities) that is not included in the racial and ethnic categories recommended by the government and other health professionals? The American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style, (5) the citation style used for this journal, noted that an author can use the term "people of color" to categorize many people of heterogeneous racial or ethnic backgrounds when comparing to White, non-Hispanic individuals. However, it also noted that when race and ethnicity is reported, the authors should indicate who classified the individuals when it comes to race and ethnicity, and whether the investigator or the participants defined the race and ethnicity options. Thus, when a researcher asks participants to choose from a list of race and ethnicity categories, the researcher should not use a term such as "person of color" to describe the participants of the study. By using a term such as "people of color," it is not clear whether the respondents were African American, Hispanic, Asian, or from other racial or ethnic groups. Whereas, it is often necessary to combine racial and ethnic categories when describing participants, researchers should consider using "other racial or ethnic groups" to describe properly the non-White, non-Hispanic, and Hispanic participants, especially when placed in table form. …