National MOTTEP: educating to prevent the need for transplantation. Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education...

The purpose of this study was to determine whether participation in culturally appropriate, community-developed, health education programs addressing organ/tissue donation and preventing the need for transplantation, is an effective strategy for contributing to sustained behavior change among members of minority population groups. Within 15 target cities, 800 (40%) minority participants consented to a 2-3 month telephone follow-up survey. The 5-item questionnaire using items extracted from the pre- and post-survey instrument, addressed: 1) knowledge and beliefs; 2) willingness to sign donor cards and have family discussions; and 3) prevention/health behaviors. The preliminary findings based on telephone interviews with 253 participants indicate the following: [table: see text] The conclusions indicate that the community-based, culturally appropriate health education strategies used contributed to and sustained behavior changes.