The Stem Cell Club: a model for unrelated stem cell donor recruitment

Abstract

BACKGROUND Patients with blood, immune, or metabolic diseases may require a stem cell transplant as part of their treatment. However, 70% of patients do not have a suitable human leukocyte antigen match in their family, and need an unrelated donor. Individuals can register as potential donors at stem cell drives, where they provide consent and a tissue sample for human leukocyte antigen typing. The ideal donors are young, male, and from a diversity of ethnic backgrounds. However, in Canada, non‐Caucasian males ages 17 to 35 years represent only 8.8% of listed donors. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS The Stem Cell Club is a non‐profit organization founded in 2011 in Canada that aims to augment recruitment of the most needed donors. The initiative published a recruitment toolkit online (http://www.stemcellclub.ca). Currently, there are 12 chapters at universities across Canada. RESULTS To date, the Stem Cell Club has recruited 6585 potential registrants, representing 1.63% of donors on Canada's donor‐database. Of the recruited registrants, 58.3% were male; 60.3% of males self‐reported as non‐Caucasian, and 78.5% were ages 17 to 25 years. From 2015 to 2016, the initiative recruited 13.7% of all ethnically diverse males ages 17 to 35 years listed in Canada's donor database. Data from this initiative demonstrate sustainability and performance on key indicators of stem cell drive quality. CONCLUSION The Stem Cell Club has developed a capacity to recruit 2600 donors annually, with the majority being males with a high degree of ethnic diversity. The initiative enhances the quality of Canada's unrelated donor‐database, improving the chances that patients in need of an unrelated donor will find a match for transplant. The Stem Cell Club is a model relevant to recruitment organizations around the world.

Development and evaluation of stem cell collection procedure diagrams to support the education and recruitment of committed stem cell donors

“…We dichotomized the responses for each item to reflect whether participants expressed any ambivalence (score = 1) or no ambivalence (score = 0). We employed a 14-question, true or false, informed consent quiz which we previously designed [22] to assess registrants' knowledge according to World Marrow Donor Association-suggested procedures for informed consent at the time of registration [28]. Registrants also were asked whether they had any unanswered questions after the drive, and they rated their knowledge of stem cell donation before and after the drive and their perception of recruiter knowledge.…”

“…We hypothesized that diagrams which allowed potential donors to visualize the stem cell collection process could enrich the informed consent process and support the recruitment and education of quality stem cell donors. Here, we describe the development of stem cell collection procedure diagrams, and their implementation at stem cell drives spearheaded by the Canadian donor recruitment organization Stem Cell Club [22]. Our aim was to develop a resource to help recruiters and healthcare professionals realize World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) standards, especially standards 3·04 and 3·05 [23].…”

Factors associated with registrant availability for unrelated adult donor hematopoietic stem cell donation: Analysis of the stem cell registry at Canadian Blood Services

“…Together, the circumstances and nature of online registration may be driving greater availability. The extent that community recruitment events can harness aspects of the online process to elevate donor availability at VT remains to be determined, although the introduction of tools to reduce ambivalence and increase knowledge at recruitment events have demonstrated some success 5 …”

Targeted recruitment of male donors for allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation: A review of the evidence

“…These groups are supported by Anthony Nolan and generally recruit a 50–50 split of university‐aged male and female registrants . Stem Cell Club is a similar initiative based at universities across Canada and partnered with OneMatch . From 05/13 to 01/17, Stem Cell Club recruited 2877 males ages 17–35 (of whom 1255 self‐identified as non‐Caucasian), representing 8·27% of the net increase in male registrants listed to OneMatch over the same time period .…”

“…Stem Cell Club is a similar initiative based at universities across Canada and partnered with OneMatch . From 05/13 to 01/17, Stem Cell Club recruited 2877 males ages 17–35 (of whom 1255 self‐identified as non‐Caucasian), representing 8·27% of the net increase in male registrants listed to OneMatch over the same time period . Anthony Nolan's Register & Be a Lifesaver recruitment programme is delivered by volunteers in schools around the United Kingdom, with a roughly 50–50 split of male and female registrants reported .…”