2206
Increasing Organ Donation in the North West South Asian Community Through Strategic Intervention
Pradeep, A¹, Ormandy, P², Augustine, T¹
¹Central Manchester University Hospitals, ²University of Salford
Background:
A disproportionate number of South Asians are waiting for transplants because suitable matches are often found between people of same ethnic group. There is limited understanding on the reasons of scarcity of South Asians organ donor registrants (ODR) and deceased donors. This abstract seeks to explore, recognize and overcome the barriers to increase the number of South Asian ODR and actual deceased donors and measuring the impact of different education approaches.
Method:Progressed in two sequential phases.
Phase One: used a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach and applied Health Belief Model (HBM). Questionnaire survey (n=907), in-depth interviews (n=10) to understand beliefs, barriers, awareness and depth of organ donation shortage and to identify South Asian community suggestions/ interventions to overcome the barriers.
Phase Two:Implementation of three different educational approaches: (1) Five General Practitioner’s (GP’s) practices with a high South Asian patient population recruited as educators/recruiters to ODR (2) Education and training for Specialist Nurses for Organ Donation (SNOD’s) to develop skills/confidence to approach South Asian families (3) Peer education and media campaign supported by network of influential community/religious leaders.
Results: Out of 907 South Asian people sampled, 55% did not know about organ donation, they lacked knowledge, mistrusted health professionals, and were misinformed regarding religious objections, despite 88% having higher education. Over 24 months, 2874 South Asian new ODR’s were successfully recruited through peer education at 289 community events by a passionate, committed South Asian health professional. Recruitment of ODR within primary care was poor, GPs reluctant and lacking confidence to discuss organ donation, due to lack of time and uncertainty of religious issues. Targeted SNOD cultural education increased slightly the number of cadaver donors, as their confidence in approaching South Asian families increased. Formal training of SNODs and health professionals (GPs) with respect to culture and religious organ donation was scant and required a national cohesive approach.
Discussion: The research provides a deeper understanding of the reasons for the scarcity of South Asian organ donors gathered from what is currently the largest UK data set of South Asian perspectives. Peer education of the South Asian and collaboration with religious leaders is crucial to overcoming the shortage of organ donors in the future. However, the important and pivotal role played by a South Asian co-ordinator/networker to engage and sustain relationships with key ethnic community leaders cannot be overstated. Study draws on the HBM theory and uses the concepts throughout the education approaches which offer a concrete and simple framework to better understand the priorities for education on organ donation topic. Acknowledged the weakness of the current organ donation education programmes and recommends a different educational approach concentrating on public as well as primary and secondary health professionals in order to improve the organ donation rate in the future