Understanding Motivators and Barriers to Blood Donation in Minorities: A Pilot Randomized Trial with the American Red Cross in the Greater Chesapeake & Potomac Region

Last registered on July 13, 2017

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Understanding Motivators and Barriers to Blood Donation in Minorities: A Pilot Randomized Trial with the American Red Cross in the Greater Chesapeake & Potomac Region
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002319
Initial registration date
July 10, 2017

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
July 13, 2017, 4:40 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Johns Hopkins University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Johns Hopkins University
PI Affiliation
American Red Cross and Johns Hopkins University

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2017-09-01
End date
2017-12-31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
In this collaboration between the Greater Chesapeake & Potomac Region Blood Service Unit of the American Red Cross and researchers at Johns Hopkins University, we propose to conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial to improve our understanding of the causes of the low African American participation in blood donation, and to offer insights on how to increase it. We plan to test the effects of (a) information about the specific need for blood among African Americans (e.g., due to sickle cell disease), and (b) how the blood will be used in the local community. We will also evaluate the potential effect of personal testimonies of patients with sickle cell disease. We propose to deliver targeted messages to a set of blood drive sponsors in the Greater Chesapeake & Potomac Region. We will collect data on donors presenting and blood collected at subsequent blood drives at those sponsors, and compare them to outcomes at those sites in the past and at other sites in the region. Only drive-level aggregate outcomes will be recorded (no individual-level information or outcomes will be collected).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Brunker, Patricia, Mario Macis and Aaron Tobian. 2017. "Understanding Motivators and Barriers to Blood Donation in Minorities: A Pilot Randomized Trial with the American Red Cross in the Greater Chesapeake & Potomac Region." AEA RCT Registry. July 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2319-1.0
Former Citation
Brunker, Patricia, Mario Macis and Aaron Tobian. 2017. "Understanding Motivators and Barriers to Blood Donation in Minorities: A Pilot Randomized Trial with the American Red Cross in the Greater Chesapeake & Potomac Region." AEA RCT Registry. July 13. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2319/history/19419
Sponsors & Partners

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2017-09-01
Intervention End Date
2017-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The main outcomes of interest will be the number of donors presenting, donors deferred, and units of blood collected at the blood drives in the study locations.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We plan to work with 20 ARC drive sponsor sites. These sites will be randomly assigned to one of the following four treatment arms:

(1) Control: Participants at promotional/recruiting events in this group will receive standard information and materials typically provided by the ARC at these events. In particular, the account manager will deliver a presentation including standard information about the importance of giving blood and a generic appeal for the participants to consider becoming regular blood donors. This information will also be included in the flyer distributed to participants in this group.

(2) African-American Need for Blood: In addition to receiving standard information typically provided by the ARC at these events, participants at promotional/recruiting events in this group will receive information about sickle cell disease (a blood disease that disproportionally affect African Americans), emphasizing the importance for patients affected by sickle cell disease to receive blood from donors of the same ethnicity. This information will also be included in the flyer distributed to participants in this group.

(3) Identity: In addition to receiving the standard information as in the control group, the ARC personnel will emphasize that blood collected in a certain location is typically used in local hospitals (which is meant to suggest that the population of recipients is similar to the population of local residents); the flyer distributed among the participants will include similar language.

(4) Personal Examples: This experimental condition will include all elements from (2) and (3) and, in addition, it will include an in-person testimony by an African American member of the community who suffers from sickle cell anemia.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization will be done in office by a computer software.
Randomization Unit
Randomization unit: blood drive sponsor (e.g., a high school, a church, etc)
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
20 blood drive sponsors
Sample size: planned number of observations
With 20 sponsors, and outcome data from 1-3 blood drives prior to the intervention and 1-3 blood drives after the intervention, the total number of sponsor-drive observations will be between 40 and 120.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
4 sponsors Control; 4 sponsors Information; 4 sponsors Local Use; 4 sponsors Information + Testimony; 4 sponsors Local Use + Testimony
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials