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Association Between Concerns About COVID-19 Infection and Blood Donation Intention: Cross-Sectional Survey Study
Qiuyue Hu1,2, Wei Hu1,2, Lingling Pan1
1Blood Center of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, China.
Insights
Concerns about blood donation, including fears of physical weakness and infection, increased significantly during COVID-19. Addressing these worries and improving public perception is crucial for maintaining blood inventory.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Behavioral Science
- Transfusion Medicine
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted blood transfusion services, leading to challenges in maintaining adequate blood supplies.
- Initial pandemic phases presented difficulties for blood transfusion services in managing optimal blood inventory levels.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate public psychological cognition and intention towards blood donation.
- To identify factors influencing public worries about blood donation.
- To provide a scientific basis for policy development to increase blood donations during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Main Methods:
- A random survey using a 14-item scale on blood donation worries was conducted among 1254 residents aged 18-60 in Zhejiang province.
- Data collected via SMS text messaging from December 31, 2022, to January 3, 2023.
- Chi-square tests and logistic regression analysis were used to analyze factors influencing donation intention and concerns, with comparisons to 2022 data.
Main Results:
- 36.52% of respondents expressed worries about blood donation related to COVID-19.
- Primary concerns included temporary physical weakness, not meeting donation requirements, inconvenience, and family worries.
- Worries about health effects, weakness, infection, and family concerns significantly increased compared to 2022 (P<.001).
- Factors influencing worries included COVID-19 infection status, adverse reactions, family concerns, and past donation experiences.
Conclusions:
- Blood transfusion services should leverage the post-COVID-19 recovery phase to address public concerns.
- Publicizing standardized donation processes and operations can alleviate worries.
- Enhancing perceived behavioral control and subjective norms is essential for increasing blood donations.
Background:
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on blood transfusion and collection. At the beginning of the pandemic, most blood transfusion services had a tough challenge in maintaining an optimal blood inventory.
Objective:
This study aims to understand the public's psychological cognition and intention toward blood donation as well as the factors influencing their worries. We aimed to find a solution for increasing blood donations and provide a scientific reference for policy formulation regarding blood donation during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the future.
Methods:
A random survey with a 14-item scale on worries related to blood donation was conducted from December 31, 2022, to January 3, 2023, among residents aged 18-60 years in Zhejiang province via SMS text messaging. The results of 8 worry items in this study were compared with the survey results of March 2022, during which COVID-19 was not considered as an epidemic in Zhejiang province. Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were performed to analyze the factors affecting respondents' blood donation intention and concerns. The degree of worry about blood donation was assigned from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree), and 2-sided t tests were performed to analyze the differences in blood donation intention and worries about blood donation.
Results:
In total, 1254 valid questionnaire responses were obtained. Males accounted for 62.36% (782/1254) of the sample, 78.39% (983/1254) were 18-45 years old, 60.61% (760/1254) had a university education, and 69.06% (866/1254) had no previous blood donation experience. Approximately 36.52% (458/1254) of the public clearly expressed that they had blood donation worries regarding COVID-19. The main concerns of the respondents were temporary physical weakness caused by blood donation, their own physical conditions not meeting the requirements of blood donation, inconvenient location and working hours for blood donation, and family (or friends) worrying about blood donation. Compared with the results in 2022, the results in 2023 regarding the harmful effects of blood donation on health, temporary physical weakness, infection in donated blood, and family (friends) worrying increased significantly (P<.001). The factors influencing blood donation worries regarding COVID-19 were COVID-19 infection status, adverse reactions to the donated blood, family (or friends) worrying, and unsatisfactory blood donation experience. The factors influencing blood donation intention were gender, age, previous blood donation times, blood donation worries regarding COVID-19, harmful effects of blood donation on health, and blood donation anxiety.
Conclusions:
Blood transfusion services should make full use of the recovery phase of COVID-19 infection as an important time point, publicize the blood donation process and operation standardization, reduce the public's concerns about blood donation, correct negative evaluations, and increase perceived behavioral control and subjective norms.
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