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Introduction: Health education programs can positively impact organ donor designation among African Americans, a disproportionately represented group on the transplant waiting list. Alumni chapters of historically African American sororities and fraternities are a novel setting for organ donation education and research., Research Questions: This study tested the effectiveness of a lay health advisor model to increase donor designation registrations on the Michigan Organ Donor Registry among members of Midwest alumni chapters. The secondary outcome was change in attitudes toward donation assessed by pre-post questionnaire., Design: Sorority/fraternity members were trained to deliver educational presentations during a 12-month period. Follow-up messaging consisted of tailored newsletters and e-mails. A cluster randomized design was utilized with 25 chapters (16 sororities and 9 fraternities) assigned to intervention (organ donation) or comparison (chronic disease)., Results: Odds of signing up for the donor registry were 1.45 times higher for the intervention group than the comparison group. Among those identified as nondonors at baseline, the odds of signing up were 1.58 times higher for intervention than comparison., Discussion: Using lay health advisors in African American sororities and fraternities can increase enrollment in a donor registry. Alumni chapters offer a unique and viable setting for organ donation education and research; relationship building with chapter officials is key to success.

Unlabelled: This study reports the psychometric properties and correlates of a measure of organ donation attitudes and practices for African Americans., Methods: We surveyed 736 members from 14 alumni chapters of historically African American sororities and fraternities in Michigan. We constructed subscales and compared subscale values with two variables related to donation status: 1) enrollment status in the state donor registry, and 2) intentions for future enrollment., Results: Psychometric analyses indicated our measure tapped four distinct domains of attitudes concerning donation. The four subscales identified-General Benefits, Race Benefits, General Barriers, and Disparity Barriers-had good psychometric properties. For all four scales the more positive the attitudes toward donation held by the respondent, the more likely they were to report having signed up to be an organ donor., Discussion: An understanding of attitudes toward donation may help development of effective culturally sensitive intervention messages targeting the African American community.

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.

African American attitudes toward organ donation differ from other racial and ethnic groups. However, existing measures of organ donation attitudes do not adequately address ethnic identity and cultural factors. We examined the psychometric properties of a new 18-item organ donation scale among 1225 members of 21 African American churches in Southeast Michigan. We identified three factors: (1) Barriers; (2) Family/Race Benefits; and (3) Altruism. More positive donation attitudes on each subscale were observed for individuals who reported being enrolled as a donor. Among individuals not enrolled, higher scores were observed on scales two and three for those with stronger intentions to enroll.

Objective: To test the efficacy of using hair stylists as lay health advisors to increase organ donation among African American clients., Design: This study was a randomized, controlled intervention trial where we randomized 52 salons (2,789 clients) to receive a 4 session, stylist-delivered health education program (comparison) or a four session brief motivational intervention that encouraged organ donation (intervention). Intervention stylists received a four-hour training in organ donation education and counseling. Organ donation was measured by self-report questionnaire at 4-month posttest as well as by verified enrollment in the Michigan Organ Donor Registry., Setting: Hair salons in Michigan urban areas., Participants: Blacks (n = 2,449), non-Blacks (n = 261) in Michigan., Main Outcome Measures: Self-reported donation status, registration in Michigan Organ Donor Registry., Results: At posttest, rates of self-reported positive donation status were 19.8% in the intervention group and 16.0% in the comparison group. In multivariate analyses, intervention participants were 1.7 times (95% Cl = 0.98-2.8) more likely than comparison participants to report positive donation status at posttest. Based on verified organ registry data, enrollment rates were 4.8% and 2%, respectively for the intervention and comparison groups. In multivariate analyses, intervention group members were 4.4 (95% CI = 1.3-15.3) more likely to submit an enrollment card than comparison participants., Conclusion: Clients of hair stylists trained to provide brief motivational intervention for organ donation were approximately twice as likely to enroll in the donor registry as comparison clients. Use of lay health advisors appears to be a promising approach to increase donation among African Americans.