Abstract
240.1: Trusted faces, stronger voices: community-driven engagement can drive organ donation
Transplantation, Vol.110(9S), pp.S105-S105
TTS2026, 31st (Sydney, Australia, 20/09/2026–23/09/2026)
09/2026
Appears in Recent Faculty of Health Publications
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Abstract
Introduction: The potential benefit an organ transplant offers to someone with end-stage organ failure is not related to the recipient’s ethnic minority or majority status. Yet, inequities in access to transplantation persist for ethnic-migrant groups in many countries due to a lack of diversity in the donor pool. The challenge is how to engage ethnic-migrant communities with organ donation when often little is known about the issue, and its relevance to the community is not understood. Previous research has typically evaluated interventions designed to increase awareness about organ donation and registration through experimental or randomised control trials. Although reported as successful, these interventions often fail to translate into practice, possibly because community members are not captive study participants.
In this research, we co-created interactive videos, scripted, performed, and produced by members of two community advisory panels associated with two distinct migrant communities in Sydney, Australia. A community diffusion strategy based on Diffusion of Innovations theory invited members of Sydney’s Indian and Bangladeshi communities to engage with these videos, and, through this engagement, evaluate their effectiveness in conveying culturally relevant information about organ donation and registration.
Method: Using a sequential design, an Indian Advisory Panel with Tamil and Gujarati members co-created nine interactive videos, hosted on a purpose-built, secure website (WeCare web App), with free-response and Likert-style questions. The App was launched at a community meeting and then shared by champions through personal and community networks, events, and social media. The same procedure was followed with the Bangladeshi community in Sydney, resulting in 14 co-created videos in both Bangla and English.
Results: The videos were watched 962 times across the two Apps. All the videos were rated positively, and participants wrote insightful comments and asked further questions about organ donation and registration. Community-level dynamics shaped engagement: participants reported they were more likely to watch a video when someone in the video was associated with their community, or they received the link from a trusted contact in the community. Importantly, participants wanted to know more about organ donation and registration.
Conclusion: Tailoring information about organ donation and registration to specific migrant-ethnic communities allows these communities to see their identities and cultures as part of the broader organ donation narrative, and, in so doing, engage with the practices associated with national organ donation systems.
Details
- Title
- 240.1: Trusted faces, stronger voices: community-driven engagement can drive organ donation
- Creators
- Gail Moloney - Southern Cross UniversityRamanathan Lakshmanan - Liverpool HospitalDhaval Ghelani - Blacktown & Mount Druitt HospitalMonira Hoque - Organ and Tissue AuthorityMaddison Norton - Southern Cross UniversityDuncan Blair - Southern Cross UniversityMichael Sutherland - The University of MelbourneIain Walker - The University of MelbourneMarie Hutchinson - Southern Cross UniversitySameer M Khan - Goulburn Valley Health
- Publication Details
- Transplantation, Vol.110(9S), pp.S105-S105
- Conference
- TTS2026, 31st (Sydney, Australia, 20/09/2026–23/09/2026)
- Publisher
- Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; PHILADELPHIA
- Grant note
- The research was partially funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC)(LP220200287).
- Identifiers
- 991013398172002368
- Copyright
- © 2026, Wolters Kluwer Health.
- Academic Unit
- Allied Health, Midwifery and Community; Psychology and Social Health; Faculty of Health
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Abstract