Implementation intentions intervention among temporarily deferred novice blood donors

Approximately 12% to 15% of blood donors are temporarily deferred from giving blood because they fail relevant medical criteria. Temporary deferral has a profound negative impact on subsequent donation. To our knowledge, an implementation intentions intervention has never been tested among temporarily deferred donors. We hypothesized that return rates would be higher among participants exposed to an implementation intentions intervention compared to those in a control condition that is mere measurement of related cognitions.

Participants were assigned to implementation intentions or mere measurement conditions; whether or not participants received a temporary interdiction on giving blood was measured. A total of 956 novice donors were temporarily deferred (n = 490, in the implementation intentions condition; n = 466, in the mere measurement condition). Participants in the implementation intentions condition formed if-then plans to overcome three common barriers to blood donation: forgetting to attend, fitting the opportunity to give blood into one's schedule, and organizing transportation to the donation venue. Participants in the mere measurement condition did not form plans.

Participants in the implementation intentions condition had a 19% greater chance of returning to give blood again within the 4 years after their first lifetime donation compared to participants in the mere measurement condition (p = 0.04) when controlling for sex and attempt at which participants were deferred.

The results of this study indicate that implementation intentions could be a useful strategy for promoting donor return among temporarily deferred novice blood donors.