How do communities want their information? Designing educational outreach on organ donation for Asian Americans.

Context: Support of organ donation among Asian Americans has been limited, but lack of access to information and prevalence of misinformation are 2 barriers that might be counteracted by public education.

Objective: To solicit advice from 4 Asian American communities on the design of a culturally appropriate educational campaign on organ donation and transplantation.

Design And Setting: Cross-sectional, multilingual survey administered at community festivals and supermarkets.

Participants: 201 Asian American respondents.

Main Outcome Measures: The components of an effective public education outreach campaign on organ donation were defined for 4 Asian American communities.

Results: Media venues ranked highest for information dissemination on organ donation/transplantation were, in descending order, mainstream television, ethnic newspapers, mainstream newspapers, and ethnic television. Most respondents preferred a spokesperson of Asian American descent, but opinions differed by ethnicity as to whether an effective spokesperson needed to be of the same Asian ethnicity as the respondents. Respondents were further divided by ethnicity on their preference for a locally or nationally well-known spokesperson. The most compelling scenario to promote organ donation was an Asian American waiting for a transplant, followed by an organ donor family or individual, and, last, a transplant recipient. Different advertisements for organ donation appealed to different Asian ethnic groups.

Conclusions: Community-based research gives communities the opportunity to collaborate with health professionals in designing health education programs that target their own populations. Because key aspects influencing campaign efficacy can vary by ethnicity, these important differences need to be taken into account in outreach planning.