Blood donation in a large urban centre of southeast Brazil: a population-based study

Promoting blood donation through social media: Evidence from Brazil, India and the USA

Social media has the potential to encourage prosocial behaviors at scale, yet very little causal evidence exists on the impact of related efforts. Blood donation is a particularly difficult, but essential prosocial behavior that is often critically undersupplied. We examine the effect of Facebook's blood donation tool on voluntary blood donation. We partnered with four major blood banks in the United States covering 363 collection facilities in 46 states and Washington, D.C. We tracked the tool's impact on blood donations during its staggered rollout on a sample of more than 47,000 facility-date observations from March 2019 to September 2019. The tool caused an increase of 0.55 total donations per facility per day (+4.0% [95% CI: 0.04%-8.0%]), and an increase of 0.15 donations from first-time donors per facility per day (+18.9% [95% CI: 4.7%-33.1%]). Longitudinal evidence from Brazil and India suggests the share of donors who both received a message from the tool and stated they were influenced by Facebook to donate increased from 0% to 14.1% [95% CI: 12.1%-16.2%] in the first year of the tool's deployment (i.e., September 2018 to August 2019). These meaningful increases, especially from first-time donors, demonstrate that social media platforms can play an important role in fostering offline prosocial behaviors that benefit the health and well-being of societies around the world.

Does Religiosity Predict Blood Donation in Brazil?

The aim of this study was to investigate the association of religiosity with blood donation in a representative/stratified sample of primary healthcare users of Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil. A cross-sectional study was conducted using the Duke University Religious Index-DUREL (dimensions: organizational, non-organizational, and intrinsic religiosity). Odds ratios adjusted by sex and age were used as measures of association. A total of 1055 individuals participated (79.7% females; mean age = 40.6 years); 23.3% had previously donated blood. Most reported having a religion and grew up in a religious environment. High frequencies of religiosity were observed. Similar DUREL scores were observed among participants who donated blood and those who did not. Family members and close friends had significant influence on participants' blood donation practices. Religiosity was not directly associated with blood donation despite the high prevalence and scores of religiosity. However, possible associations between religion and blood donation should consider mediating variables in future studies.

Knowledge, attitude and practice of blood donation and the role of religious beliefs among health sciences undergraduate students

There is a consensus on the importance of education of the population for blood donation. Considering that health sciences undergraduate students will play an important role of opinion makers in their social/professional networks in the future, the present study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitude and practice of the blood donation and religious beliefs among students of a public Brazilian university. All students enrolled in courses of Ribeirão Preto Medical School in 2019 were invited (N = 550). The questionnaire was composed by sociodemographic and behavioral variables, an instrument regarding blood donation attitude and practice, the Blood Donation Knowledge Questionnaire (BDKQ-Brazil) and the Duke University Religious Index (DUREL). Multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate sex- and age-adjusted odds ratios for the relations between sociodemographic/behavioral characteristics and blood donation practice. The association between the responses to the BDKQ-Brazil and blood donation practice was performed using Fisher's Exact Test. Three hundred and forty students were included (81.5% females). Blood donation has been a common practice for part of the students, who have almost entirely shown a positive attitude towards donation and a high rate of self-efficacy regarding their practice. However, less than expected knowledge was observed. Regarding religious beliefs, lower scores of non-organizational and intrinsic religiosity were detected among those male students who never donated blood. Our results suggest the need to develop educational activities for students aiming, in addition to their awareness of the practice of donation, the spread of information regarding blood donation in the future.

Current approaches to increase blood donations in resource-limited countries

BACKGROUND

Low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) suffer from chronic or seasonal blood shortage. The first review was published in 2007.

METHODS

The review of literature since 2005 presented here uncovered a fairly large number of articles justifying the grouping of blood donation issues into five geographical areas sharing common background. These are Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Muslim countries, India, China/South East Asia and Latin America/Caribbean islands (LA&C).

RESULTS

SSA countries start collecting at 16-18 years of age in schools where female donors can be reached better than in other settings. Community-oriented culture favours family donors who need, similar to volunteer non-remunerated donors (VNRD), to be actively induced to repeat donation. Muslim countries share the contradiction of religion encouraging blood donation but restrain women from donating. The active involvement of religious leaders and the progressive easing of female participation are the keys to increasing blood donation. In India, 'social duty' is a major inducement to blood donation but also benefits and rewards. Ways of involving female donors by reducing the donation age to 16 years and providing donor education in schools need to be considered. In China and East Asia, the option of small-volume donation impairs blood collection without being justified by scientific evidence but is a concession to culture. Reducing the donation age would also help the supply. In LA&C, the concept of 'social capital' was developed as a complement or alternative to the theory of planned behaviour.

CONCLUSIONS

Strategies to improve blood donation and repeat donation should be innovative and adapted to local or regional culture and environment.

Comparison of the demographic and social profile of blood donors and nondonors in Brazil

Population-based studies on blood donation prevalence and its association with sociodemographic and behavioural factors are scarce, but remain the best approach to assess correlates of donation, including those which could be the target for donor recruitment campaigns. This study describes the population of primary healthcare users from the public system in a medium-sized Brazilian municipality to investigate the association of blood donation practice with other sociodemographic factors. A stratified, representative sample of primary healthcare users at 12 healthcare facilities in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil, were invited to participate. Analysis focused on demographic and psychosocial factors including, sex, age, marital status, socioeconomic status, educational level, health insurance, self-perception of health, religious beliefs, and blood donation history. Blood donors, self-defined ineligible donors, and never donors were compared. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was used to assess positively and negatively associated variables in the dataset. MCA was conducted on respondents' age and monthly household income to assess dimensionality of other questionnaire responses. Of a total of 1,055 study participants, 79.7% were females and the mean age was 40.6 years. Blood donation practice was reported by 246 participants (23.3%), 669 (63.4%) had never donated, and 140 (13.3%) reported being unable to donate blood. Graphical presentation of the MCA showed that male, older age groups, those who have health insurance, and with higher socioeconomic and educational level are more likely to donate blood. Poor or average self-perception of health, lower socioeconomic status, and divorced or widowed marital status were associated with self-defined inability to donate blood. Thus, our results are useful to understand the multifactorial nature of blood donation behaviour. Our findings provide guidance for targeted recruitment campaigns focused on relevant contextual factors. The focus on reducing barriers to blood donation according to sociodemographic groups can be a relevant strategy to expand the donor base.

Blood Donation Knowledge Questionnaire (BDKQ-Brazil): analysis of items and application in primary healthcare users

Background

To present the results of the application of the Blood Donation Knowledge Questionnaire in a large and representative sample of users of primary care services in order to extend the evaluation of the metrics of the items and to assess knowledge about blood donation in association with sociodemographic variables.

Method

The Blood Donation Knowledge Questionnaire is composed of 24 items based on blood donation requirements of the Brazilian Ministry of Health and on some popular beliefs and concepts of the Brazilian population regarding the blood donation process. Data collection was carried out in 12 healthcare facilities of Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo. The analysis of items was performed using classical test theory with associations being assessed using the multivariate Tobit regression model.

Results

A total of 1055 individuals participated (79.7% females and a mean age of 40.6 years). Previous blood donation was reported by 246 (23.3%) participants, 669 (63.4%) had never donated, and 140 (13.3%) reported being ineligible to donate blood. This questionnaire is comprised of items considered easy-to-understand, with a facility level of medium to high and generally an adequate capability of discrimination. Higher means of correct answers were detected among females, individuals with more schooling, and subjects who had already donated blood.

Conclusion

The Blood Donation Knowledge Questionnaire is an instrument that aims to measure some general aspects of knowledge regarding blood donation and can be used in different contexts. There is evidence that knowledge of primary healthcare users regarding blood donation is correlated to sex, educational level, and previous blood donation.