title: Organ donation and Hispanic american high school students: attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and intent to donate.
abstract: The growing need for transplantable organs continues to outpace supply. This discrepancy is most pronounced in minority populations. Hispanic Americans, however, are significantly less likely to donate their organs for reasons that remain poorly understood. We sought to identify factors  that influence Hispanic American high school students' intent to donate organs. A prospective observational study was conducted in five Los Angeles high schools within four separate zip codes known for a high percentage of Hispanic Americans. High school students, ages 15 to 20 years,  were surveyed to assess demographic factors, cultural factors, awareness and knowledge, perception, and belief regarding organ donation and the intent to donate. A total of 5444 surveys were collected over a 4-month period. After logistic regression analysis, independent risk factors for predicting  the intent to donate were: family support, 11th and 12th grade high school students, being female, religion, and the belief that Hispanics are more likely to need an organ transplant. This study represents the largest study to date examining factors associated with the intent to donate in  Hispanic American high school students. To address the organ shortage crisis in Hispanic Americans, these risk factors should be considered using specific, effective educational programs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Critical Care, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA.
authors.forename: Cherisse
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Berry
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salim
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Ley
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schulman
authors.forename: Jacqui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Linda S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000941:ethics / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000941:ethics*; D014481:United States