Increasing organ donation in Hispanic Americans: the role of media and other community outreach efforts

Abstract

Importance: The growing demand for organs continues to outpace supply. This gap is most pronounced in minority populations, who constitute more than 40% of the organ waiting list. Hispanic Americans are particularly less likely to donate compared with other minorities for reasons that remain poorly understood and difficult to change.

Objective: To determine whether outreach interventions that target Hispanic Americans improve organ donation outcomes.

Design, setting, and participants: Prospective before-after study of 4 southern California neighborhoods with a high percentage of Hispanic American residents. We conducted cross-sectional telephone surveys before and 2 years after outreach interventions. Respondents 18 years or older were drawn randomly from lists of Hispanic surnames. Awareness, perceptions, and beliefs regarding organ donation and intent to donate were measured and compared before and after interventions.

Intervention: Television and radio commercials about organ donation and educational programs at 5 high schools and 4 Catholic churches.

Main outcomes and measures: Number of survey participants who specify intent to donate.

Results: A total of 402 preintervention and 654 postintervention individuals participated in the surveys. We observed a significant increase in awareness of and knowledge about organ donation and a significant increase in the intent to donate (17.7% vs 12.1%; adjusted odds ratio, 1.55 [95% CI, 1.06-2.26; P = .02]).

Conclusions and relevance: Focused donor outreach programs sustain awareness and knowledge and can significantly improve intent to donate organs in the Hispanic American population. These programs should continue to be evaluated and implemented to influence donor registration.