Whole blood and apheresis donors in Quebec, Canada: Demographic differences and motivations to donate

Abstract

This study sought to compare demographics and donation motivations among plasma/platelet donors (PPDs) and whole blood donors (WBDs), in a voluntary and non-remunerated context. Motives to donate blood and demographic characteristics were collected through questionnaires completed by 795 WBDs and 473 PPDs. Comparison of WBDs and PPDs under chi-square tests showed that 17 out of 23 motivators were statistically different according to various demographic variables. These results demonstrate the existence of specific donor profiles both for WBDs and PPDs. Agencies should develop new recruitment strategies tailored to these donors, especially if they wish to convince WBDs to convert to apheresis donation.

Understanding donation frequency: insights from current plasma donors

“…Consistent with the results of Charbonneau and colleagues [3], these data provide examples of how regular plasma donors actively work to fit donation into their lives. Our donors discussed working around time constraints, for example by adopting a flexible approach to donation frequency, rather than always donating at regular intervals.…”

“…Through these responses and through the responses of those donors who were motivated by reminders and callouts, participants demonstrated awareness that the Blood Service requires an ongoing supply of plasma to treat patients, that the supply of plasma is dependent upon donations, and that donors are a limited resource. Charbonneau and colleagues suggested that compared with whole‐blood donors, plasma donors are driven more by benevolence than altruism as apheresis plasma donation is more demanding than whole‐blood donation . The current findings support the notion that plasma donors are motivated to donate because they benefit from knowing that their (more regular) donations are helping others.…”

“…In Australia, plasmapheresis takes longer (approximately 45 min compared with 15 min) and during the procedure red-blood-cells are mixed with anticoagulant and saline and recirculated [2]. Charbonneau and colleagues (2015) suggest that the comparative complexity of plasmapheresis influences the motivations of plasma donors, such that they are more likely to be motivated by a sense of pride at donating compared with whole-blood donors [3]. These findings are supported by Veldhuizen and van Dongen [4] who reported that plasma donors were more motivated and felt more confident about donating than whole-blood donors, even before making their first donation.…”

Life events and donor lapse among blood donors in Denmark

“…For a large part, these results are in line with previous findings from cross‐sectional blood donor studies based on self‐reports. Time constraints due to childbirth and family responsibilities appear to be among the main reasons for donors to discontinue donating blood , while health‐related events in the family were mentioned being a motivational factor to start donating blood as well as a reason to continue donating over time . There were slight differences in the statistical influence of various health‐related events in the family with transfusion having a stronger effect in the Dutch dataset, but serious disease and death in the Danish.…”

Using Spatial Filters and Exploratory Data Analysis to Enhance Regression Models of Spatial Data

“…Demographic change, in particular, is seen as an important-if relatively poorly understood-aspect of blood donation that can impact the ability of blood administration organizations to meet their mandate (Greinacher et al 2007). Recent research has therefore emerged to help develop a better understanding of the potential effects of demographic change on blood donation patterns (e.g., Hollingsworth and Wildman 2004;Murphy et al 2007Murphy et al , 2009Ritter et al 2008;Greinacher et al 2008;Saberton et al 2009;Cloutier et al 2012;Apparicio et al 2014;Carrier et al 2015;Charbonneau et al 2015).…”