Investigating attitudes and motives of volunteer blood donors

Introduction: According to the Council of Europe, blood donation is considered a volunteer act if donors offer some of their blood, plasma or cellular elements urged by their own will and do not get any kind of reward, money or anything that could be a substitute for money. National blood needs increase more rapidly than blood donations, hence there is a need to boost volunteer blood donations. Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate attitudes, perceptions and motives of volunteer blood donors in a general hospital. Materials and Methods: 214 individuals (190 males and 24 females) who visited the Blood Donation Dept. of the Ptolemaida General Hospital for three months participated in the study. An anonymous self-completion questionnaire was used for data collection. The SPSS 16 software was used for the statistical analysis. Results: Years of blood donation seem to be affected by sex, family status and age. More specifically, males (Mann-Whitney U=1279, p=0.003),married participants (MannWhitney U=1402, p<0.001) and older age participants (Spearman’s rho=0,671, p<0.001), used to be blood donors for more years compared to females, singles and younger participants. Regarding the cause of their current blood donation, almost half of the participants said they had given blood because of a relative or friend in need, while the rest were volunteer blood donors. Factors that seemed to have an impact on the blood donors included family influence, interaction with friends or relatives who used to be blood donors, while more than half of the participants (53.7%) described themselves as regular blood donors. Finally, the older the participant, the more likely it was for them to be regular blood donors (Point-biserial r=0.291, p<0,001). Conclusions: Some actions that could boost the number of blood donors in Greece include well-coordinated health education programs and awareness-raising campaigns, as well as state support and the implementation of a specific and motivating legislative framework.