CONTEXT: African Americans are disproportionately represented among those awaiting a transplant, but many are reluctant to donate their organs. OBJECTIVE: To test the effectiveness of using lay health advisors to increase organ donation among church members. DESIGN: Churches were pair-matched by average estimated income and size and then randomized to 1 of 2 interventions: one addressing organ donation and the other addressing increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables. SETTING:Twenty-two African American churches in Southeast Michigan. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Church members were trained to serve as lay health advisors (called peer leaders). INTERVENTIONS: Peer leaders conducted organ donation discussions with church groups and showed a DVD created for this program that was tailored to African American churches. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was verified registration in the state's donor registry. Participants also completed pre/post questionnaires regarding their attitudes about organ donation. RESULTS: Once clustering, baseline value, and demographics were adjusted for, the intervention and comparison groups did not differ on any of the 3 attitude scales on the posttest. In logistic regression analysis, with baseline donation status, demographics, and church clustering controlled for, the odds of self-reported enrollment at 1-year posttest did not differ by condition (odds ratio, 1.23; 95% CI, 0.87-1.72). A total of 211 enrollments in the state registry from participating churches were verified. Of these, 163 were from intervention churches and 48 were from comparison churches. CONCLUSIONS: Use of lay health advisors through black churches can increase minority enrollment in a donor registry even absent change in attitudes.
RCT Entities:
CONTEXT: African Americans are disproportionately represented among those awaiting a transplant, but many are reluctant to donate their organs. OBJECTIVE: To test the effectiveness of using lay health advisors to increase organ donation among church members. DESIGN: Churches were pair-matched by average estimated income and size and then randomized to 1 of 2 interventions: one addressing organ donation and the other addressing increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables. SETTING: Twenty-two African American churches in Southeast Michigan. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Church members were trained to serve as lay health advisors (called peer leaders). INTERVENTIONS: Peer leaders conducted organ donation discussions with church groups and showed a DVD created for this program that was tailored to African American churches. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was verified registration in the state's donor registry. Participants also completed pre/post questionnaires regarding their attitudes about organ donation. RESULTS: Once clustering, baseline value, and demographics were adjusted for, the intervention and comparison groups did not differ on any of the 3 attitude scales on the posttest. In logistic regression analysis, with baseline donation status, demographics, and church clustering controlled for, the odds of self-reported enrollment at 1-year posttest did not differ by condition (odds ratio, 1.23; 95% CI, 0.87-1.72). A total of 211 enrollments in the state registry from participating churches were verified. Of these, 163 were from intervention churches and 48 were from comparison churches. CONCLUSIONS: Use of lay health advisors through black churches can increase minority enrollment in a donor registry even absent change in attitudes.
Authors: Alvin H Li; Marcus Lo; Jacob E Crawshaw; Alexie J Dunnett; Kyla L Naylor; Amit X Garg; Justin Presseau Journal: Cochrane Database Syst Rev Date: 2021-04-04
Authors: Stephen P Wall; Patricio Castillo; Francine Shuchat-Shaw; Elizabeth Norman; David Brown; Natalia Martinez-López; Mairyn López-Ríos; Azizi A Seixas; Jan L Plass; Joseph E Ravenell Journal: J Health Commun Date: 2022-02-16
Authors: Angelique F Ralph; Ali Alyami; Richard D M Allen; Kirsten Howard; Jonathan C Craig; Steve J Chadban; Michelle Irving; Allison Tong Journal: BMJ Open Date: 2016-01-19 Impact factor: 2.692
Authors: Sharad I Wadhwani; Cole Brokamp; Erika Rasnick; John C Bucuvalas; Jennifer C Lai; Andrew F Beck Journal: Am J Transplant Date: 2020-08-04 Impact factor: 8.086