Leveraging Behavioral Sciences to Augment Voluntary Blood Donation in China: A Randomized Control Trial and Latent...

China is facing a blood shortage crisis and needs to increase its voluntary blood donation rates. Since current programs to promote blood donation may not be sufficient to meet the rising demand, innovative approaches are needed. Behavioral sciences can provide useful insights for developing behavioral interventions to enhance blood donation. However, there have been few empirical studies to evaluate the efficacy of such interventions across different potential and existing donor subgroups.

This randomized controlled trial and latent class analysis (LCA) empirically evaluated the effect of online behavioral interventions on blood donation willingness, intention, and behavior on different donor subgroups in China. In 2022, 3280 participants of diverse sociodemographic characteristics in mainland China were recruited through an online survey platform and completed a baseline survey. Participants were randomized to one of five online interventions (stimulating individual standards of fairness, using eye cues to prime individuals, self-imposed penalties for goal failure, presenting blood shortage statistics in China, and a World Health Organization blood donation poster) in the middle of the survey and were provided information on where to donate blood at the end of the survey. To measure post-intervention blood donation, participants were invited to complete a follow-up survey 3 to 4 weeks after the baseline survey. Six donor subgroups were identified using LCA, and differential treatment effects on actual blood donation were assessed using regression analysis based on a classify-analyze approach.

Our results showed that presenting blood shortage statistics was the most effective intervention for increasing blood donation among a subgroup of respondents characterized by high educational attainment, while three out of six classes had low donation rates regardless of the intervention.

Targeted, online intervention campaigns show promise in efficiently augmenting voluntary blood donation rates in China.

ChiCTR2200060481 (Chinese Clinical Trials Registry).