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Community attitudes to remunerated blood donation in Australia: results from a national telephone survey
Author(s) -
Bambrick Hilary,
Gallego Gisselle
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
transfusion medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.471
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1365-3148
pISSN - 0958-7578
DOI - 10.1111/tme.12062
Subject(s) - remuneration , reimbursement , incentive , economic shortage , donation , payment , telephone survey , family medicine , receipt , blood donor , medicine , business , finance , accounting , marketing , economics , economic growth , health care , linguistics , philosophy , government (linguistics) , immunology , microeconomics
SUMMARY Background Blood in Australia is sourced through voluntary, non‐remunerated donations. With periodic shortages in supply, increasing demand for blood products and a donor base that is perceived to be unsustainable, remuneration has been proposed as a means to improve donation rates. Objective To examine community attitudes to remunerated blood donation in Australia. Method A national random telephone survey of Australian adults age 18–70 was conducted ( n  = 1024). Associations were tested using a chi‐square (χ 2 ) test for linear distribution. Results Reimbursement for the cost of travel to donate blood was supported by more respondents (46%) than reimbursement for time (19%). Non‐donors were more likely to support a payment compared to donors ( P  = 0·002). Twelve per cent of respondents thought they would be more likely to donate if remunerated while 10% thought they would be less likely. The majority (76%) thought that a payment would not change whether or not they would donate, while 85% thought that it would make other people more likely to donate. The average amount considered to be reasonable reimbursement was AU $30. Conclusion Despite the common perception that other people would be motivated to donate blood with the introduction of a financial incentive, remuneration may provide minimal incentive in Australia and is unlikely to increase donor participation for the time being.

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