DKMS Diversity Programme Research

Deutsche Knochenmarkspenderdatei, abbreviated as DKMS, is an international nonprofit bone marrow donor center. DKMS was first founded in Germany in 1991 and the UK branch was launched in 2013. Their mission is to find a matching donor for every patient in need of a life-saving stem cell transplant. To achieve this, DKMS needs to ensure that their registry of potential donors is of a significant size and that it has donors for patients of all ethnicities.

A review of the DKMS registered donor database, carried out by DKMS, highlighted specific ethnic minority communities that are significantly under-represented, namely Black African, Black Caribbean, Bangladeshi, Chinese and Pakistani communities. In addition, DKMS saw an increased drop-out from donors from the Asian and Turkish communities when contacted as a potential match as a donor. DKMS wanted to understand why this was happening in order to take action that will help retain their involvement.

In order to build an effective engagement and retention strategy with people from these communities, DKMS needed to develop a better understanding of them. M·E·L Research was commissioned to carry out an exploratory study with people from these communities in order to understand their awareness of blood cancer and stem cell donation, their motivations/barriers to register to become a donor, their motivations/barriers to donate blood stem cells, and their preferences around communication if they were a registered donor.

The research consisted of both qualitative research (in-depth interviews with the general public) and quantitative research (online survey with registered donors) elements. The key findings and recommendations were presented to the DKMS’s internal teams to facilitate the development of their communication strategy.