A national minority transplant program for increasing donation rates.

Since 1982, our group efforts demonstrated statistically significant improvements in minority donation rates which have applicability to all minority populations. As we continue to reach out to the various ethnic communities, we must listen to the needs of the community understanding that all ethnic communities have various beliefs and cultural barriers that will need to be addressed. For instance, the African-American population revealed the previously mentioned five obstacles to donation. The Hispanic population has revealed relatively the same fears to donation as the African-American population. In addition, the tribes within the Native-American population each have their own belief systems which will have to be addressed appropriately. The fears and obstacles toward donation within the Asians and Pacific Islanders and the Alaska Native groups are being defined. However, initial research reveals that all of the minority groups have very similar, if not the same, fears that were identified with the initial focus group in 1978. This simple methodology that has been established can ultimately help achieve the overall desired goal--an increase in minority donation rates.