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Blood donation motivators and barriers reported by young, first‐time whole blood donors: Examining the association of reported motivators and barriers with subsequent donation behavior and potential sex, race, and ethnic group differences
Author(s) -
France Christopher R.,
France Janis L.,
Ysidron Dominic W.,
Martin Caroline D.,
Duffy Louisa,
Kessler Debra A.,
Rebosa Mark,
Rehmani Shiraz,
Frye Victoria,
Shaz Beth H.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
transfusion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.045
H-Index - 132
eISSN - 1537-2995
pISSN - 0041-1132
DOI - 10.1111/trf.17162
Subject(s) - ethnic group , donation , psychology , altruism (biology) , blood donor , race (biology) , prosocial behavior , association (psychology) , medicine , social psychology , clinical psychology , botany , sociology , anthropology , immunology , economics , psychotherapist , biology , economic growth
Background A greater understanding of young, first‐time donor motivators and barriers is needed to address the ongoing challenge of retaining these essential donors. Study Design and Methods Structured interviews conducted with 508 young, first‐time whole blood donors [66.1% female; Mean Age = 19.4 (SD = 2.5) years] were coded to identify reported motivators and barriers. Reported motivators and barriers were then examined for their association with attempted donation behavior over a 14‐month follow‐up, and for potential sex, race, and ethnic group differences in the frequency of endorsement. Results Prosocial motivation (e.g., altruism) was the most commonly reported motivator and fear (e.g., fainting, needles) was the most commonly reported barrier. Donation behavior was unrelated to reported motivators, but was significantly related to four reported barriers including fear of fainting/dizziness, fear of needles/pain, having personal commitments that conflict with donating, and perceiving oneself as unsuited to donate for health reasons. Sex, racial, and ethnic differences were noted with respect to the percentages of donors reporting several donation‐related motivators and barriers. Conclusion The present findings identify donation‐related barriers that could be important targets to address in the effort to encourage new young donors and to retain these new donors for the long term. Importantly, these data also highlight the importance of considering individual differences in donor motivation as a function of sex, race, and ethnicity.