Increasing participation in the national marrow donor program: A randomized trial.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Communication
• Biomedical Sciences

Background:

• The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) requires diverse donor pools to ensure equitable patient access to life-saving transplants.
• Undergraduate students represent a key demographic for increasing donor registration, yet participation barriers persist.
• Messaging strategies are crucial for engaging young adults in health-related behaviors like marrow donation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of emotional versus rational messaging strategies in increasing diverse student participation in the NMDP.
• To identify facilitators and barriers influencing undergraduate students' intentions to join the NMDP.
• To examine the relationship between knowledge, ambivalence, and likelihood of joining the NMDP.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving 361 undergraduate students (ages 18-35, 72.3% female, 58.4% nonwhite).
• Participants completed baseline measures on facilitators, barriers, and enrollment intentions.
• Randomization to receive either an emotional or a rational appeal messaging strategy, followed by reassessment of enrollment intentions.

Main Results:

• Participants correctly answered only 21% of marrow donation knowledge questions.
• Higher knowledge and lower ambivalence were significantly associated with increased likelihood of joining the NMDP.
• The emotional appeal messaging strategy significantly increased registration likelihood compared to the rational appeal; race did not moderate this effect.

Conclusions:

• Emotional appeals are more effective than rational appeals in motivating diverse young adults to register as marrow donors.
• Addressing knowledge gaps and emotional aspects related to the need for donors is critical for enhancing participation.
• Interventions should be tailored to leverage emotional engagement to broaden the donor registry.