Motivations to Transplant Registry Participation

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The current study seeks to understand factors that influence college students' likelihood of participating the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)/Be the Match for bone marrow and stem cell donations. The secondary aim is to compare emotional and rational approaches to encouraging participation in the registry and how these approaches may impact intentions to participate in the NMDP.

Detailed Description
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This study is a randomized controlled trial that will randomize participants to receive either an emotional appeal about a child with cancer who needs a bone marrow transplant or a rational appeal using data on the racial/ethnic disparities within the transplant registry. Participants will be recruited through the Psychology Subject Pool, which will then link students to the study measures in an online survey. Participants will be asked their age to confirm eligibility to participate (students must be between 18-35), and eligible students will be presented with the consent form through the online survey system. Participants will then be asked to complete measures of demographic information, personality/psychological characteristics, and transplant-related knowledge, intentions, and attitudes. All participants will then be given background information on bone marrow transplants. Randomization: Students will be randomized by sex in the online survey system to the emotional presentation condition or the rational presentation condition. The emotional condition will tell the story of a fictional pediatric patient with cancer who needs a transplant. The rational condition will describe the facts about the need for diversity in the registry. After being presented with the rational or emotional appeal, participants will again be asked about their intentions to register, their motivations for registering, and their mood.

Official Title
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Motivations for Stem Cell Transplant Registry Participation

Conditions
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Healthy

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Emotional Appeal
* Behavioral: Rational Appeal


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Rutgers Camden Students enrolled in Psych 101 and Method and Theory Between the ages of 18-35 Exclusion Criteria: Students under 18 years of age or over 36 or older will be excluded.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 35 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Emotional Group<br>Participants will be randomly assigned to receive an emotional or rational appeal, stratified by sex. | Behavioral: Emotional Appeal<br>* Participants will be presented with a short vignette about a child undergoing cancer treatment and needing a bone marrow transplant in order to survive cancer.<br>|
| Experimental: Rational Group<br>Participants will be randomly assigned to receive an emotional or rational appeal, stratified by sex. | Behavioral: Rational Appeal<br>* Participants will be presented with data regarding the importance of considering race/ethnicity when looking for a bone marrow transplant donor and the likelihood of finding a match based on the patient's racial/ethnic background.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Intention to register | Participants will be asked 2 questions about whether they will register and the rate the likelihood of registering. They will be asked these questions before and after the experimental manipulation. | Baseline | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mood | Participant mood will be assessed pre/post survey, asking participants to rate their current mood on a 1-10 scale. | Baseline | 
| Psychosocial and Demographic Correlates of intentions to register | Participants will complete demographic, personality measures and, knowledge measures that will be examined as correlates of their intentions to register with the transplant registry. | Baseline | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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stem cell transplant, bone marrow donor, motivations, altruism