Educational approaches for encouraging organ donation awareness among African Americans

Approximately one-third of those awaiting organ transplants are African American. Many African Americans, however, are reluctant to become organ donors. Little is known about which educational approach is most useful in increasing organ donation among African Americans. What are the organ donation knowledge, perceptions, and practices of African Americans in Washington, DC? Is one educational approach more effective than another in increasing transplantation and organ donation knowledge, positive perceptions, and willingness to donate an organ? A quasiexperimental pre/post control group design was employed using a convenience sample of 83 African Americans 18 to 63 years of age. Intervention approaches for three groups included receiving an information sheet on organ donation, a culturally sensitive message from an African American messenger with expertise on organ donation, and a culturally sensitive message from an African American messenger directly affected by organ donation and transplantation. Internal consistency of the survey instrument was acceptable, established as between 0.81 and 0.86 using Cronbach's alpha. Fear of registering as an organ donor and fear of discussing organ donation with family decreased from pretest to posttest for all groups. The belief that my family would not approve of my registering to become an organ donor had a highly positive association with other barriers to donation (family would not agree with donation, r = .67, p < .01; cost too much money, r = .66, p < .01; religion would not allow me to donate, r = .59, p < .01). Scores for the sample on knowledge of organ donation and transplantation improved from pretest to posttest. Analysis of posttest scores indicated no difference between groups receiving different educational approaches (F = .995, p < .443).