JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on blood transfusion and collection. Especially at the beginning of the pandemic, it was a major and universal challenge for most Blood Transfusion Services (BTSs) to maintain an optimal blood inventory to meet clinical treatment needs.It is necessary to study people's views, cognition, and intentions regarding voluntary non-remunerated blood donation (VNRBD), explore the reasons behind the sharp decline in the number of blood donors.

Objective:

To understand the public's psychological cognition and worries about blood donation, monitor the changes in people's blood donation behavior, and explore the factors influencing people's worries about blood donation and the related intention. The goals were to respond quickly and find an intervention direction to increase blood donations and to provide a scientific reference for blood donation during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods:

A random survey with a scale including 14 items about worries was conducted from December 31, 2022, to January 3, 2023, among residents aged 18–60 years old in Zhejiang province via SMS through a mobile communication platform. The results of the eight worry items were compared with the survey results for March 2022, which was the non-COVID-19 pandemic stage. The chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the factors affecting the respondents’ blood donation intention and concerns. The degree of worry about blood donation was assigned 1 point (completely disagree) to 5 points (completely agree), expressed as mean±SEM, and two independent sample t-tests were used to analyze their influence on blood donation intention and worries about blood donation.

Results:

From December 17, 2022, to January 3, 2023, the number of blood donations in Zhejiang province decreased by 63.6% compared with the same period in the previous year. The survey was conducted during the COVID-19 outbreak in Zhejiang province. In total, 1,254 valid questionnaires were obtained. Males accounted for 62.36% of the sample, 62% were 18–45 years old, 60.61% had a university education, and 69% had previous blood donation experience. In total, 36.5% 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 (friends) worrying about blood donation. Compared with the results from March 2022 during the non-COVID-19 pandemic period, "blood donation is harmful to health," "causes temporary physical weakness," "may be infected with diseases," and "family (friends) worry" increased significantly. The infection status of COVID-19, worrying about adverse reactions to blood donation, family (friends) worrying, and worrying caused by an unsatisfactory blood donation experience were the influencing factors of "blood donation worries-COVID-19." Gender, age, previous blood donation times, "blood donation worries-COVID-19," "blood donation is harmful to health," and blood donation anxiety were the influencing factors of blood donation intention.

Conclusions:

With the outbreak of COVID-19, the public has a certain degree of worry about blood donation, high concern about physical health, and a negative attitude toward blood donation, which has led to a decline in perceived behavior control and subjective norms. Blood collection and supply institutions should make full use of the recovery period of COVID-19 infection as an important time-point, publicize the blood donation process and operating standardization, reduce the public's concerns about blood donation, correct negative evaluations, and increase perceived behavioral control and subjective norms. Clinical Trial: N/A