Project ACTS II: organ donation education for African American adults

Project ACTS "About Choices in Transplantation and Sharing" is a culturally sensitive intervention designed to address organ donation concerns among African American adults. Our study sought to evaluate the efficacy of two versions of the Project ACTS intervention and to determine whether reviewing materials in a group setting would be more effective at increasing participants' interest in organ and tissue donation than allowing participants to review the materials at home with friends and family.

A pre-post simple factorial experimental design was used to assess differences between intervention package (Project ACTS I vs II) and mode of delivery (group vs take home).

Participants completed a baseline and 1-year follow-up assessment of donation-related knowledge, attitudes, and interest.

A summed score that represents participants' interest in being recognized as an organ donor on their driver's license, via donor card, and by talking to family.

From baseline to follow-up, participants increased their knowledge, attitudes, and interest in being recognized as an organ donor regardless of intervention package (Ps<.05). Regarding setting, participants who reviewed materials in a group setting demonstrated greater increase from baseline to follow-up in interest in organ donation (beta=.22, P<.01) and positive attitudes toward donation (beta=.22, P<.05) than those who were allowed to review materials at home with friends and family.

Project ACTS I and II are equally efficacious; reviewing the intervention in a group setting may be necessary for low vested interest/high ambivalence health behaviors such as organ donation.