Donors' psychological reactions to deferral following false-positive screening test results

Being notified of a false-positive infectious disease marker result can cause psychological distress in blood donors. A new notification process, informing donors of the possibility of re-entry, was compared with the previous one in which donors were indefinitely deferred to evaluate the mitigating effect on donors' psychological distress levels.

Two groups of donors, 'deferred donors' (DD) and 'donors eligible for re-entry' (DER), completed a questionnaire involving 5-point scales. Levels of psychological distress, attitude towards blood donation, desire to donate blood in the future and perception of notification process quality were assessed.

Attitudes towards blood donation (P = 0·0276) (DD: 3·94 ± 0·11 vs. DER 4·21 ± 0·09) and perceived quality of communication (P = 0·0108) (DD: 2·72 ± 0·12 vs. DER 3·08 ± 0·10) were significantly improved with the new notification process. No significant difference was found between groups in psychological distress levels or desire to donate blood in the future.

Informing donors of the possibility of re-entry appears to contribute to maintaining a positive predisposition towards future blood donation. It does not, however, appear to alleviate the distress felt after being notified of a false-positive infectious disease marker result, nor does it increase willingness to give blood again in the future.