Does College Students' Knowledge of Blood Donation Relate to Their Willingness and Behavior to Donate Blood?

The purpose of this study was to examine whether university students' knowledge about blood donation is related to their willingness to donate blood and their behavior as part of efforts to promote blood donation behavior. The subjects were 79 female students at University A in Yamaguchi Prefecture, aged 20.367 ±1.312 years. Of the 79 subjects, 51 (approximately 65% of the total) had past lectures and self-study (learning experience) related to blood donation, and 28 (approximately 35% of the total) had no experience. Regarding the experience of actually donating blood (blood donation experience), of 79 people, 22 had experience (approximately 28% of the total) and 57 had no experience (approximately 72% of the total). Knowledge about blood donation was asked about 19 items, including “reasons why blood is needed,” “uses of blood,” and “types of blood donation.
The results were as follows: (1) Those who had studied the subject had more knowledge about blood donation than those who had not studied the subject for all 19 items except for “Reasons why blood is needed” and “Uses of blood”. (2) For all items except “Uses of blood'' and “Information on blood donation buses in Yamaguchi
Prefecture'', those who had experience of blood donation were more knowledgeable than those who had no experience of blood donation. (3) The reason for going to a blood donation for those who had experience donating blood was the availability of snacks and other small gifts, invitations from friends, etc. When thinking about going
to donate blood, 60% of respondents said that it was because of their own convenience, such as having time, having a blood donation bus, being in good physical condition, and feeling well. In addition, 30% of the responders were due to factors from the blood center or others, such as a notification from the blood center that blood could be donated or an invitation from a friend. (4) More than 60% of the respondents who had never donated blood did so because of their physical condition, such as anemia or being underweight. In addition, lack of opportunity to go, image and impression of blood donation such as “painful” and “scary,” and lack of knowledge about blood and blood donation were also cited as reasons. (5) When we examined how gaining knowledge about blood donation was related to the willingness to take action for those who had never donated blood, we found that not only did gaining knowledge increase the willingness to take action, but also some did not change their willingness to take action and some decreased their willingness to take action after gaining knowledge.
These findings suggest that it is important to make efforts to sustain interest in blood donation for those who have experienced blood donation behavior, and for those who have not donated blood, it is important to simultaneously provide knowledge about blood donation and opportunities to donate blood, and to devise approaches for those who lack weight or other factors to meet blood donation criteria.