Organ donation video messaging in motor vehicle offices: results of a randomized trial

Abstract

Context: Since nearly all registered organ donors in the United States signed up via a driver's license transaction, motor vehicle (MV) offices represent an important venue for organ donation education.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of organ donation video messaging in MV offices.

Design: A 2-group (usual care vs usual care+video messaging) randomized trial with baseline, intervention, and follow-up assessment phases.

Setting: Twenty-eight MV offices in Massachusetts.

Intervention: Usual care comprised education of MV clerks, display of organ donation print materials (ie, posters, brochures, signing mats), and a volunteer ambassador program. The intervention included video messaging with silent (subtitled) segments highlighting individuals affected by donation, playing on a recursive loop on monitors in MV waiting rooms.

Main outcome measures: Aggregate monthly donor designation rates at MV offices (primary) and percentage of MV customers who registered as donors after viewing the video (secondary).

Results: Controlling for baseline donor designation rate, analysis of covariance showed a significant group effect for intervention phase (F=7.3, P=.01). The usual-care group had a significantly higher aggregate monthly donor designation rate than the intervention group had. In the logistic regression model of customer surveys (n=912), prior donor designation (β=-1.29, odds ratio [OR]=0.27 [95% CI=0.20-0.37], P<.001), white race (β=0.57 OR=1.77 [95% CI=1.23-2.54], P=.002), and viewing the intervention video (β=0.73, OR=1.54 [95% CI=1.24-2.60], P=.01) were statistically significant predictors of donor registration on the day of the survey.

Conclusion: The relatively low uptake of the video intervention by customers most likely contributed to the negative trial finding.