title: A focused educational program after religious services to improve organ donation in Hispanic Americans.
abstract: Religion is an important determinant in Hispanic Americans (HA) becoming organ donors as HA often believe religion forbids donation. We investigated the effect of an educational program targeting HA organ donation in places of worship. A prospective observational study was conducted at four Catholic churches with a high percentage of HA. A 45-min "culturally sensitive" educational program, conducted in Spanish, was implemented. Organ donation awareness, knowledge, perception, and beliefs, as well as the intent to become an organ donor, were measured before and after the intervention. Differences between before and after the intervention were analyzed. A total of 182 surveys were conducted before and 159 surveys were conducted after the educational program. A significant increase was observed in organ donation knowledge (54% vs. 70%, p<0.0001), perception (43% vs. 58%, p<0.0001), and beliefs (50% vs. 60%, p=0.0001). However, no significant difference was found in the willingness to discuss donation with family, intent-to-donate, or registering to donate after the intervention. This study demonstrates that a focused educational program in places of worship can significantly improve HA knowledge, perceptions, and beliefs regarding organ donation. Further work is needed to understand why intent-to-donate does not increase despite the increase in organ donation awareness.
authors.affiliation: Division of Trauma and Critical Care, Department of Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA. ali.salim@cshs.org
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salim
authors.forename: Cherisse
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bery
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Ley
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schulman
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; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003142:Communication; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000941:ethics / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D012067:Religion; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000193:education*; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000941:ethics*; D055815:Young Adult