Motivations and inhibitors to blood donation

Considering the small percentage of blood donors and that it is common for individuals who donate blood for the first time not to repeat the donation in the future, the continuous need for blood remains a global challenge. For these reasons, blood donation centres need to understand the aspects that motivate people to donate blood and those that discourage this behaviour. Hence, our research goal is to identify the aspects that contribute to donation and those that demotivate it. A total of 540 questionnaires were gathered, and t-tests were used to compare dimensions of Altruism regarding donors, and motivations and inhibitors, as well as the perception regarding incentives to blood donation, among nondonors and potential donors. We conclude that donors are mainly motivated by the attainment of warm glow from benefiting others and that they show preferential helping towards family. Our study suggests that potential blood donors are willing to donate, but may not do so due to perceived barriers, primarily the fear of falling unconscious, becoming nauseous/weak and of the transmission of infectious diseases –, and the lack of knowledge regarding the existence of incentives to blood donation. Therefore, social marketing campaigns for donor retention should be focused on the emotional reward gained by benefiting others, particularly family, and recruitment should be aimed at potential donors, with focus on changing perceptions regarding the identified inhibitors and on giving more information about incentives for blood donors. Our study contributes to previous research by identifying some particular aspects related to nondonors that have higher potential to become donors, and kinship as a strong motivation for donors, unlike previous studies in this area.