Blood donors' attitudes towards voluntary non‐remunerated donation in Trinidad and Tobago

SUMMARY Objectives To assess the attitude towards voluntary non‐remunerated blood donation among blood donors in Trinidad and Tobago ( TRT ). Background Blood donors in TRT are either family replacement (F/R, 87%) or remunerated (13%). There is chronic blood shortage and high seroreactivity for transfusion‐transmissible infections ( TTI ) in donors. Converting existing to voluntary non‐remunerated donors ( VNRD ) reduces the need to recruit news donors in achieving 100% VNRD . Methods A questionnaire‐based, cross‐sectional survey was conducted at two blood collection centres at an interval of 8 years. Donors were surveyed for sociodemographic characteristics, awareness of the blood shortage, previous donation behaviour, donor‐beneficiary linkage if F/R, willingness to become VNRD and choice of motivators for converting to VNRD . Results A total of 400 and 595 donors respectively participated in Surveys 1 and 2, of whom 92·8 and 86·3% were F/R ( P  < 0·001), respectively. In both surveys, 52% of participants were unaware of an existing blood shortage ( P  = 0·983). Only 9·8 and 9·1% of participants expressed unwillingness to become VNRD ( P  = 0·720). The main motivators to convert to VNRD were reminders from the centre (84%) and extended opening hours (78%) in Survey 1 as compared to confidence that donated blood was used properly (73%) and shortened waiting times to donate (73%) in Survey 2. Conclusion Despite low awareness of blood shortage, willingness to become VNRD was high among existing donors. Accountability and donor convenience underpinned the main motivators for converting to VNRD .