Blood donation among university students: Practices, motivations, and barriers in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Context: Blood transfusion is an essential medical procedure conducted with various purposes to provide patients with blood needed. The procedure saves patients’ lives, as blood cannot be manufactured artificially and can only be obtained from human blood sources. Aims: To assess the awareness of, perceptions of, motivations regarding, and barriers to blood donation among a sample of Jazan University students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Settings and Design: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted among the undergraduate students of Jazan University. Materials and Methods: Stratified random sampling was used to collect information from 440 students, and a predesigned, structured questionnaire was used to collect data on the study variables. Statistical Analysis: Involved descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. SPSS was used for data analysis. Results: The prevalence of blood donation was 29.0% (95% CI, 25.0–33.3), significantly higher for males at 44.3% (95% CI, 38.3–50.4) than for females at 10.5% (95% CI, 7.3–16.0; P < 0.001), and with odds ratio (OR) = 6.8; [95% CI, 4.1–11.2] than females. Students’ level of knowledge regarding blood donation was low. The main barriers to blood donation were identified as being unqualified for blood donation (57.5%) and risk of contracting infectious disease (48.7%) and the desire to donate in the future to a close friend (38.6%). The main motivations for donating blood were identified as religious reasons (77.5%), altruism (77.5%), and to serve the homeland and meet the call of need (77.5%). Conclusions: The prevalence of blood donation was found to be low, and students’ knowledge regarding blood donation appeared to be lacking. The development of awareness programs among the university’s students will address students’ misconceptions about blood donation and encourage them to join donation campaigns.

Key Messages: Students’ knowledge regarding blood donation appeared to be lacking. The prevalence of blood donation was also not satisfactory. Being unqualified for blood donation and fear and misconceptions regarding blood donation were observed to be the main causes of non-donation. The development of awareness programs among the university’s students will encourage them to join donation campaigns.

Keywords

Blood - donation - knowledge - motivations and barriers

Publication History

Article published online:
06 August 2021

• References

• 1 World Health Organization (WHO). Towards 100% Voluntary Blood Donation, A Global Framework for Action 2017. Available from: http://www.who.int/bloodsafety/publications/9789241599696/en/. cited 2020 [Last accessed on 2020 Nov 20]
• 2 WHO. Fact Sheet No. 279. Blood Safety and Availability. Available from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs279/en/index.html. cited 2020 [Last accessed on 2020 Oct 20]
• 3 Bednall TC, Bove LL, Cheetham A, Murray AL. A systematic review and meta-analysis of antecedents of blood donation behavior and intentions. Soc Sci Med 2013; 96: 86-94
• 4 Alfouzan N. Knowledge, attitudes, and motivations towards blood donation among King Abdulaziz Medical City population. Int J Family Med 2014; 2014: 539670
• 5 Abolfotouh MA, Al-Assiri MH, Al-Omani M, Al Johar A, Al Hakbani A, Alaskar AS. Public awareness of blood donation in central Saudi Arabia. Int J Gen Med 2014; 7: 401-10
• 6 Abdel Gader AG, Osman AM, Al Gahtani FH, Farghali MN, Ramadan AH, Al-Momen AK. Attitude to blood donation in Saudi Arabia. Asian J Transfus Sci 2011; 5: 121-6
• 7 Al-Drees AM. Attitude, belief and knowledge about blood donation and transfusion in Saudi population. Pak J Med Sci 2008; 24: 74
• 8 Alam M, Masalmeh BD. Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding blood donation among the Saudi population. Saudi Med J 2004; 25: 318-21
• 9 Baig M, Habib H, Haji AH, Alsharief FT, Noor AM, Makki RG. Knowledge, misconceptions and motivations towards blood donation among university students in KSA. Pak J Med Sci 2013; 29: 1295-9
• 10 Alharbi SH, Alateeq FA, Ahmed IB, Alsogair AAA, Al-Rashdi YDA, Aldugieman TZ. et al. Assessment of levels of awareness towards blood donation in saudi arabia. AIMS Public Health 2018; 5: 324-37
• 11 Alsalmi MA, Almalki HM, Alghamdi AA, Aljasir BA. Knowledge, attitude and practice of blood donation among health professions students in Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study. J Family Med Prim Care 2019; 8: 2322
• 12 Batiha AM, AlBashtawy M. Knowledge of Philadelphia university students regarding blood donation. Transfus Med 2013; 23: 195-8
• 13 Al-Haqqan T, Husain A, Al-Kandari N, Al-Rashidi L, Al-Daihani N, Mitra AK. A cross-sectional study of knowledge, attitude, practice, and barriers regarding blood donation among general population in Kuwait. Int J Comm Fam Med 2016; 1: ICJFM-120
• 14 Mustafa MM, Abdelfattah EN, Al Rukban MO. Attitude towards blood donation among university students. Int J Sci Basic Appl Res 2015; 19: 82-91
• 15 Al-Asadi JN, Al-Yassen AQ. Knowledge, attitude and practice of blood donation among university students in Basrah, Iraq: A comparison between medical and non-medical students. Asian J Med Sci 2018; 9: 62-7
• 16 Salaudeen AG, Odeh E. Knowledge and behavior towards voluntary blood donation among students of a tertiary institution in Nigeria. Niger J Clin Pract 2011; 14: 303-7
• 17 Safizadeh H, Pourdamghan N, Mohamadi B. University student’s awareness and attitude towards blood donation in Kerman City. Iran J Blood Cancer 2009; 1: 107-10
• 18 Misganaw C, Tenkir M, Deresea A, Tesfaye M, Tessema TT, Taye H. The level and associated factors of knowledge, attitude and practice of blood donation among health science students of Addis Ababa health science students of Addis Ababa University. Int J Med Res Health Sci 2014; 1: 105-18
• 19 Papagiannis D, Rachiotis G, Symvoulakis EK, Anyfantakis D, Douvlataniotis K, Zilidis C. et al. Blood donation knowledge and attitudes among undergraduate health science students: A cross-sectional study. Transfus Apher Sci 2016; 54: 303-8
• 20 Allerson J. Assessment of selected university students’ knowledge of blood donation and the relationship with intent to donate blood. Master’s thesis Minnesota State University; Mankato: 2012
• 21 Mamatya A, Prajapati R, Yadav R. Knowledge and practice of blood donation: A comparison between medical and nonmedical Nepalese students. Nep Med Coll J 2012; 14: 283-6
• 22 Bani M, Strepparava M, Giussani B. Gender differences and frequency of whole blood donation in italian donors: Even though I want to, I cannot?. Transfus Apher Sci 2014; 50: 81-6
• 23 Al-Johar AW, Al-Saud A, Abalkhail Y, Jawdat T, Al-Khamees S, Faisal Al-Thunayan. et al. Why do-saudi women refrain donating their blood?—a study on the attitude, belief and motivation of Saudi female university students towards blood donation. Clin Lab 2016; 62: 771-9
• 24 Bani M, Giussani B. Gender differences in giving blood: A review of the literature. Blood Transfus 2010; 8: 278-87
• 25 Newman BH, Newman DT, Ahmad R, Roth AJ. The effect of whole-blood donor adverse events on blood donor return rates. Transfusion 2006; 46: 1374-9
• 26 Nilsson Sojka B, Sojka P. The blood-donation experience: Perceived physical, psychological and social impact of blood donation on the donor. Vox Sang 2003; 84: 120-8
• 27 Mishra SK, Sachdev S, Marwaha N, Avasthi A. Study of knowledge and attitude among college-going students toward voluntary blood donation from North India. J Blood Med 2016; 7: 19-26
• 28 Singh B, Pandey RM, D’Souza N. Knowledge, attitudes and socio-demographic factors differentiating blood donors from non-donors in an urban slum of Delhi. Indian J Commun Med 2002; 27: 118-21
• 29 Goncalez TT, Sabino EC, Chen S, Salles NA, Chamone DAF, McFarland W. et al. Knowledge, attitudes and motivations among blood donors in São Paulo, Brazil. AIDS Behav 2008; 12: S39-47
• 30 Zaller N, Nelson KE, Ness P, Wen G, Bai X, Shan H. Knowledge, attitude and practice survey regarding blood donation in a northwestern Chinese city. Transfus Med 2005; 15: 277-86
• 31 United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Blood Donation in Moldova: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice in the General Population: Survey Final Report. Washington, DC: USAID; 2007
• 32 Jacobs B, Berege ZA. Attitudes and beliefs about blood donation among adults in Mwanza region, Tanzania. East Afr Med J 1995; 72: 345-8
• 33 Agbovi KK, Kolou M, Fétéké L, Haudrechy D, North ML, Ségbéna AY. [Knowledge, attitudes and practices about blood donation. A sociological study among the population of lomé in Togo]. Transfus Clin Biol 2006; 13: 260-5
• 34 Olaiya MA, Alakija W, Ajala A, Olatunji RO. Knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and motivations towards blood donations among blood donors in Lagos, Nigeria. Transfus Med 2004; 14: 13-7