How to encourage non-donors to be more willing to donate blood? Testing of binding communication based interventions

"Trust Me, I'm a Doctor." How TikTok Videos from Different Sources Influence Clinical Trial Participation

This study experiments with TikTok videos to promote clinical trial participation. More specifically, it examines how short-form video sources (doctors vs. prior volunteers for clinical trials) influence perceived source credibility, self-efficacy, and behavioral intention to participate in clinical trials. Findings from this online experiment (N = 396) showed that doctor sources led to greater behavioral intention through enhancing source credibility compared to prior volunteer sources. Alternatively, prior volunteer sources increased behavioral intention via enhanced self-efficacy for participants with low trust in doctors. These findings contribute to the understanding of how short-form video sources act as heuristic cues, leading to persuasion outcomes. Overall, we recommend featuring doctors when using video-based messages to promote clinical trial participation. Also, this study emphasizes the need for health communication practitioners to consider prior volunteers as spokespersons when targeting populations with low baseline trust in doctors.

How anxiety relates to blood donation intention of non-donors: the roles of moral disengagement and mindfulness

Blood donation anxiety is a major psychological obstacle for blood donation. However, it remains unclear what the mechanism underlying the relationship between anxiety and blood donation intention is and what factor(s) will buffer the negative effects of anxiety. Based on social cognitive theory, we theorized a model delineating the mechanism with which blood donation anxiety was related to blood donation intention. Data were collected in a three-wave online survey including 425 individuals and was analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression with SPSS 24.0 software. The results indicated that the negative relationship between blood donation anxiety and blood donation intention was mediated by moral disengagement. Meanwhile, mindfulness was found to play a buffering role in the relationship between blood donation anxiety and moral disengagement as well as the indirect relationship between blood donation anxiety and blood donation intention via moral disengagement. Our findings advanced the understanding of the detrimental consequences of blood donation anxiety and demonstrated that while blood donation anxiety came at a high cost, it can be managed.

Does a Low-Cost Act of Support Produce Slacktivism or Commitment? Prosocial and Impression-Management Motives as Moderators

Increase or decrease in subsequent action following a low-cost act of support for a cause can be predicted from both commitment theory and the slacktivism effect. In this paper, we report on three studies that tested type of motivation (prosocial vs. impression management) as a moderator of the effect of an initial act of support [wearing a badge (S1) and writing a slogan (S2 and 3)] has on support for blood donation. Small-scale meta-analysis performed on data from the three studies shows that activating prosocial motivation generally leads to greater support for the cause after an initial act of support compared to the control condition, while the effect from impression-management motivation can either be negative or null.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Changes the Nudging Effect of Social Information on Individuals' Blood Donation Intention

The positive effect of social information on nudging prosocial behavior is context dependent. Understanding how sensitive intervention outcomes are to changes in the choice context is essential for policy design, especially in times of great uncertainty, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. The present paper explores the effectiveness of social information in changing voluntary blood donation intention in two contexts: before and after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in China. In addition to the dimension of context, information content and its source are also important. Using a survey administered to 1,116 participants, we conducted an intertemporal randomized-controlled experiment to systematically analyze how information can effectively nudge the intention to donate blood. Compared with content featuring blood donors' commendation information, blood users' demand information is found to have a stronger nudging effect. An official information source has a greater influence on participants' donation intention than an unofficial source. Furthermore, our analysis of two waves of experimental data (i.e., before and after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic) shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has further enhanced the nudging effect of blood users' demand information and official information sources. These findings provide a theoretical basis and policy recommendations for relevant institutions to develop effective blood donation campaign strategies.

Determinants of the intention to participate in a programme of plasma donation for fractionation among men who have sex with men

Background and objectives

Several approaches are currently under study to contribute to efforts to allow men who have sex with men (MSM) to donate blood. One of these approaches involves implementing a programme of plasma donation for fractionation, with a quarantine period. The goal of this article is to identify the determinants of intention to participate in the plasma donation programme among MSM in Montreal, Canada.

Materials and methods

Based on the theory of planned behaviour, a questionnaire was developed to measure MSM’s intention to donate plasma and identify influencing factors. A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to identify the determinants of intention to donate plasma.

Results

Respondents’ (N = 933) intention to donate plasma in the next six months was moderate. The multiple linear regression model explained 55% (P < 0·001) of the variation of intention. Intention was predicted by attitudes (β = 0·34, P < 0·001), perceived behavioural control (β = 0·28, P < 0·001), aged under 35 years (β = 0·26, P < 0·001), history of blood donation (β = 0·24, P < 0·001), subjective norm (β = 0·21, P < 0·001), income above $40,000 (β = 0·20, P < 0·001), moral norm (β = 0·18, P < 0·001) and higher level of involvement in various issues LGBTQ+ communities are fighting for (β = 0·09, P < 0·001).

Conclusion

Our analyses show that intention to donate plasma within the proposed programme is associated with personal, social and structural factors, but more strongly predicted by factors related to the theory of planned behaviour. Our results also highlight the importance of involving MSM; community acceptability of the plasma donation programme would probably be higher if MSM felt respected and party to the decisions.

Beyond Description: The Predictive Role of Affect, Memory, and Context in the Decision to Donate or Not Donate Blood

Background

Research on the recruitment and retention of blood donors has typically drawn on a homogeneous set of descriptive theories, viewing the decision to become and remain a donor as the outcome of affectively cold, planned, and rational decision-making by the individual. While this approach provides insight into how our donors think about blood donation, it is limited and has not translated into a suite of effective interventions. In this review, we set out to explore how a broader consideration of the influences on donor decision-making, in terms of affect, memory, and the context in which donation takes place, may yield benefit in the way we approach donor recruitment and retention.

Summary

Drawing on emerging research, we argue for the importance of considering the implications of both the positive and the negative emotions that donors experience and we argue for the importance of directly targeting affect in interventions to recruit nondonors. Next, we focus on the reconstructed nature of memory and the factors that influence what we remember about an event. We discuss how these processes may impact the retention of donors and the potential to intervene to enhance donors' recollections of their experiences. Finally, we discuss how our focus on the individual has led us to neglect the influence of the context in which donation takes place on donor behavior. We argue that the amassing of comprehensive large data sets detailing both the characteristics of the individuals and the context of their giving will ultimately allow for the more effective deployment of resources to improve recruitment and retention.

Key Messages

In suggesting these directions for future research, our want is to move beyond the ways in which we have traditionally described blood donation behavior with the aim of improving our theorizing about donors while improving the translational value of our research.

Assessment of levels of awareness towards blood donation in Saudi Arabia

Background

blood products is an interesting term as all blood and blood transfusion procedures carry risk even with advance screening of donors and donated blood. In Saudi Arabia voluntary donors are either the only source or not, the other source is paid donors and the lack of volunteers represents a major challenge. This is usually attributed to low community awareness regarding voluntary blood donation. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the levels of awareness towards blood donation in northern Saudi Arabia.

Methodology

in this descriptive cross sectional survey, data about blood donation were obtained from 717 Saudi volunteers living in the city of Hail, Saudi Arabia. A Purposeful questionnaire was designed and used for obtaining of the necessary data.

Results

When asking the participants to rate the level of awareness about blood donation in Saudi Society, the majority of participants categorized the levels as good followed by very good and poor, representing 48.8%, 29.3%, and 22% participants, respectively.

Conclusion

the broad concept of blood donation is still poor in Saudi Arabia. Further educational plans are needed to raise the level of awareness and increase the perception of blood donation among Saudi population. Efforts should be made to involve females in blood donation duties.