Awareness of and attitude towards blood donation in students at the Semnan University of Medical Sciences

Knowledge, Attitude, Motivators, and Barriers to Blood Donation Among Adults in Al-Qunfudah Governorate, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND

Blood transfusion is one of the most important aspects of managing patients with a variety of medical disorders like thalassemia and sickle cell anemia. Despite this fact, many Saudis hesitate to donate blood and do not know whether blood banks need blood.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the knowledge, attitude, motivators, and barriers to blood donation among adults in Al-Qunfudah governorate, Saudi Arabia.

METHODS

A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on a convenience sample of 416 adults living in Al-Qunfudah governorate and its dependence, using an online self-administered questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed statistically using SPSS version 21 (IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, USA).

RESULTS

Among 416 respondents, exactly 232 (55.8%) had overall good knowledge regarding blood donation, and 334 (80.3%) positively perceived it. The best knowledge about blood donation was detected among those aged 21-24 years (p = 0.012), males (p = 0.008), university-educated (p = 0.048), having a government job (p = 0.001), and having a history of donating blood (p = 0.001). The motivators included religious motives (88.2%, n = 367), feelings of self-satisfaction (63.2%, n = 263), and restoring blood circulation (56.7%, n = 236). Barriers to blood donation were fear of being infected (27.6%, n = 115), needle phobia (23.6%, n = 98), fear of general weakness (22.8%, n = 95), didn't know how to donate (16.8%, n = 70), and fear of seeing blood (13.2%, n = 55).

CONCLUSION

Although adults in the Al-Qunfudah governorate of Saudi Arabia had positive attitudes toward blood donation, they possessed inadequate knowledge about it. Being younger, male, university-educated, having government jobs, and having a past history of donating blood were factors associated with good knowledge of blood donation. The most common motivators were religious, financial, and maintaining health. However, fear of infection, needle sticks, fear of pain, and hemophobia were the recorded barriers. Public health education is recommended to tackle public concerns regarding blood donation and present its benefits.

Assessment of Beliefs, Behaviors, and Opinions About Blood Donation in Telangana, India-A Cross Sectional Community-Based Study

Background and Objectives: Blood is an essential body fluid primarily required for regulating the body's systems and maintaining homeostasis. In developed and developing countries, concern about the demand and supply for blood is increasing. The current study aims to assess the beliefs, behaviors, and opinions of the public toward blood donation. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in which a self-created questionnaire with 17-items was used for data collection. The self-administered questionnaire was disseminated between November 2019 and January 2020 through social media (WhatsApp© and Facebook©). Data was analyzed using SPSS program version 26. Results: A total of 356 questionnaires were completed with a response rate of 89%. The majority of participants were male 253 (71.1%), 336 (94.4%) considered blood donation important, 350 (98.3%) believed that blood donation saves lives, and 254 (71.3%) agreed to receive blood from voluntary donors. One-hundred sixty-seven (49.4%) were willing to donate blood voluntarily. The barriers to blood donation were fear of needles 86 (24.2%), fear of contracting a chronic disease 84 (23.6%), and lack of time 40 (11.2%). One day off (91.9%) and receiving a token 73.6% were common motivational factors for blood donation. Overall, 57% of the participants had favorable attitudes toward blood donation and 41.9% were knowledgeable. Favorable attitudes were significantly associated with being married (P = 0.018) and having university level of education (P = 0.005). Younger participants (18-29 years) had a statistically significant better knowledge than older participants (≥30 years). Conclusion: The respondents displayed positive beliefs, opinions, and motivation toward blood donation. Additionally, most of them considered blood donation an important act and a national duty of every individual and are willing to donate in the future.

Knowledge and attitude towards blood donation among college students in Southwest Ethiopia

Introduction

blood donation (BD) is affected by several factors, among which people's knowledge and attitude are the key determinants. However, the level of knowledge and attitude towards BD in Ethiopia is not yet well studied. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the level and factors associated with knowledge and attitude towards blood donation among health science college students in Southwest Ethiopia.

Methods

a cross-sectional study was conducted among 394 health science students from June 1^st to 15^th 2019. The data were collected using a structured self-administered questionnaire. The data were entered using EPI-data version 4.2.0.0 and analyzed using SPSS version 20. The correlation analysis was done to determine the association between the knowledge sum score and the attitude sum score. A binary logistic regression analysis was done to determine the association between the dependent and independent variables.

Results

the proportions of good knowledge and positive attitude towards BD were 69.3%, 95% CI (64.8%-73.4%) and 58.1%, 95% CI (52.3%-63.0%) respectively. The study also found that age ≥23 years (adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=1.67, 95% CI (1.04-2.67)), having a father with primary and secondary school and above (AOR=2.24, 95% CI (1.20-4.17) and AOR=2.26, 95% CI (1.26-4.06) respectively) and ever donated blood (AOR=3.64, 95%CI (2.26-5.85)) were factors associated with good knowledge of blood donation. Being a rural resident (AOR=1.59, 95% CI (1.01-2.40)) and graduating class student (AOR=0.56, 95% CI (0.34-0.96)) were factors associated with a positive attitude towards blood donation. The knowledge-related questions´ sum score value was positively correlated with the attitude-related questions’ sum score value (r=0.30, P<0.001).

Conclusion

the knowledge and attitude towards BD among the study population are a substantial deficiency. Therefore, more effort is needed to increase the level of knowledge and attitude towards BD by inculcating short training courses for these groups of population in the existing curriculum.

Assessment of the level and factors associated with knowledge, attitude and practice of blood donation among medical and paramedical personnel in ALERT Hospital, Ethiopia

Background: Though there was a high blood supply need in response to high communicable disease and increased emergency conditions; the practice of health professionals and non-health professionals on voluntary blood donation is still unexpectedly low in Ethiopia. Health professionals and non-health professionals working in the health sectors are pivotal in taking the lead to reverse the effect of inadequate blood supply system in the country. Therefore, the study aimed to understand the level and contributing factors of knowledge, attitude and practice of voluntary blood donation among health and non-health professionals in ALERT Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Design and Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted among health professionals and non-health professionals in ALERT hospital from 5 to 30 June 2018. A total of 394 hospital staffs participated in this study. A well-structured self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice about voluntary blood donation. The statistical analysis was carried out using R.

Results: A total of 203 (51.5%) participants were females. Only 142(36%) of the participants had voluntary blood donation practice. Among these, 60 (42.3%) of them were donated blood more than once. Occupation is the only factor significantly associated with blood donation practice; health professionals had almost two-fold donation practice than non-health professionals (AOR=1.62; 5% CI: 1.02, 2.57, p=0.042). Occupation has also a strong relationship with knowledge, health professionals had better knowledge than non-professionals with (AOR=2.39; 95% CI: 1.39, 4.12; p=0.002). The result also showed that the educational status of the participants was strongly associated with the blood donors’ attitude with (AOR=3.62; 95%CI: 1.1, 11.93, p=0.035). One hundred and two (72.3%) of the blood donors were motivated to donate blood for charity, 133 (94.3%) individuals were felt good after blood donation and lack of request was the major reason 88.6% that causes the respondents not to donate blood frequently.

Conclusions: Low blood donation practice of health professionals and non-health professionals was identified from this study. Occupation had significantly associated with blood donation practice. Therefore, targeted interventions aimed at mobilizing hospital staffs and develop accessible blood donation centers are recommended to reverse the effect of inadequate blood supply system in Ethiopia.

Blood Donation Practice among Undergraduate Students in a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Introduction:

Voluntary blood donation is a reliable source of increasing the demand for blood transfusion. Medical students are the potential pool of blood donors. This study aims to find the prevalence of blood donation practice among medical students of a medical college in Nepal.

Methods:

This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in a medical college of Nepal among students studying from the first year to final year MBBS. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Committee of the Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences (Ref no. 245). A stratified random sampling technique was used to collect data. A self-administered pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2016.

Results:

The prevalence of blood donation practice among medical students of the medical college is 41 (22.20%) (17.35-27.05 at 95% Confidence Interval). The practice of blood donation is seen more among students of the final year 15 (35.71%) and the least among first year 3 (8.57%). Most of the donors, 24 (58.54%), have donated blood only once before. The most common reasons for donating and not donating blood before are ‘behavior of altruism’ 12 (29.27%) and ‘I am not fit/disapproved’ 44 (30.56%) respectively.

Conclusions:

This study shows less prevalence of blood donation practice among medical students. It points to the need for more extensive studies to explore the factors deterring medical students from donating blood. Definitive strategies are also needed to encourage medical students to increased voluntary participation in blood donation.

Reasons of under-representation of Iranian women in blood donation

The under-representation of women in blood donation can lead to blood shortages. We aimed to determine the factors, which encourage or impede blood donations in women. The findings can help us in designing effective recruitment strategies that could encourage women to donate blood to cover the patients’ needs. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Shiraz, Iran, from the 1st of January 2017 to the 1st of August 2017 on women aged 18–60 years old. The demographic characteristics of the participants, the reasons that motivate blood donors and the factors that discourage non-donors were surveyed. Reasons for lapses in donors were also mentioned. The most frequent reasons for blood donation were altruistic causes (94.4%), moral and personal obligations (89.1%), the feeling of responsibility (82.7%), and awareness of the positive effects on their health (77.4%). The most common deterrents in non-donors were fear of developing anemia (68.4%) or weakness and dizziness (66%), unsuitability due to certain medical conditions (62.4%), and lack of a situation in which they were asked to donate blood (61.8%). Although altruistic reasons are the chief motivating factors for women to donate blood, the overall female contribution in blood donation remains low. Therefore, it is necessary to take measures aiming at informing women about the importance of blood donation and to reduce fears based on misinformation. Confidence in the blood donation organization must be a major consideration in future recruitment strategies to reassure women about the safety of blood donation.