A Cross-Sectional Study of Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, and Barriers Regarding Blood Donation among General Population in Kuwait

Abstract

Background: Public awareness regarding blood donation during life and after death is poor in many developing and developed countries. The prevalence of blood donation varies according to the demographics of the people. The objectives of this study were to assess the knowledge, attitude, practice, and barriers regarding blood donation among the general population in Kuwait. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 915 people was conducted between March and April 2016. Data were collected by using a survey questionnaire among the general people working in five randomly selected ministries including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Social Affair. An ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Faculty of Medicine in Kuwait University and from the ministries. Results: Overall, about 37% the study population ever donated blood. The proportion of life-time donors was significantly higher among males than females (57.9% vs. 25.2%, respectively, p< 0.001). However, the knowledge scores about blood donation were significantly higher among females (p= 0.035). Both knowledge scores and positive scores of attitude increased with increasing age and with higher educational levels. Of the barriers, women had significantly more fear of pain (p<0.001) and fear of seeing blood (p= 0.002) compared to men. In multivariate analysis, male gender, middle and older age, knowledge score, fear of getting new infection, and fear of anemia remained significant predictors of blood donation after controlling for the confounders. Conclusion:The study showed a low rate of blood donation in Kuwait. More community outreach programs such as blood donation campaigns should be undertaken to improve the situation, and to alleviate people's perception about the barriers.

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

“…[21] A significant statistical difference in donor status was observed between genders, with significantly fewer female donors compared with male donors, a phenomenon also found elsewhere in the world. [13,15,22] Our findings align with previous studies conducted in the KSA, [4,5,7,23] which reported that men have a significantly higher tendency to donate blood than women and that women are underrepresented among blood donors. Generally, women experience approximately 70% more deferrals from donation than men as a result of anemia, other health conditions, and clinical reactions.…”

“…These results agree with national studies[ 7 8 9 10 ] and international studies conducted in Jordan[ 12 ] and Kuwait. [ 13 ] Alsalmi et al [ 11 ] in their study among health professions students in Saudi Arabia, concluded that the level of awareness was sufficient at 60% of study participants.…”

Knowledge and practice of blood donation among national youth corp members in orientation camp Sagamu Ogun State

“…Studies have shown how blood donors differ from non-donors with respect to their specific socio-demographic characteristics, such as sex, compared with non-donors, as donors had a better knowledge. This is in agreement with reports by Kim et al (33) 36a and Al-Haqqan et al (34).…”

Assessment of Knowledge and Attitude among Faculty of Nursing Students Regarding Blood Donation

“…Frequency distribution of the studied nursing students regarding their total knowledge level about blood donation (n = 422). Figure (2): illustrates that more than one third (37.7%) of the studied nursing students had satisfactory knowledge about blood donation and 62.3% of them had unsatisfactory knowledge.…”