Intention of future donations: a study of donors versus non-donors

Abstract

Background: Recent years have seen the level of blood donation at a world level come to a standstill or even decline. This situation requires blood donation services to make efforts to increase donor recruitment and retention, as well as to increase the frequency of donations among current donors. In order to obtain good results, it is essential to understand the factors that affect intention to donate. Objectives: To determine the explanatory power of a set of factors on intention to donate blood, as well as evaluating the ability of current donors to motivate others. Methods/Materials: A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 1015 Spanish individuals. Results: Results indicate that (i) motivations and hindering factors have the greatest explanatory power on intention to donate, (ii) experience as a donor is the most explanatory factor on future intention and (iii) there are significant behavioural and sociodemographic differences between donors and non-donors. Conclusion: These findings suggest that it is necessary (i) to enhance the donor retention for maintaining the donation system using a personal and frequent communication with donors not only to remind them to schedule their next donation, but also to attract more donors; (ii) to recapture temporarily deferred donors, as they are less reluctant towards donation; (iii) to describe in detail how donation affects donors and clarify the importance of donation for society and (iv) to develop member get member programs in which current donors act as motivators amongst friends, coworkers and family.