OPINIONS OF BLOOD DONATION: A U.S. POPULATION SURVEY

描述（由调查员提供）：该国可能面临血液短缺危机，因为血液采集和使用之间的差距持续下降。 很大一部分医院报告无法满足手术和非手术需求。 我们的血液供应充足性很脆弱，因为只有少数符合条件的人真正捐血。 由于担心曾前往已发现牛海绵状脑炎（疯牛病）的欧洲部分地区的捐赠者可能会通过输血传播变异型克雅氏病，因此制定了新的严格的捐赠者延期标准，预计将取消 8% 捐赠者的资格。 在纽约等严重依赖进口欧洲血液来满足患者需求的地区，影响将更为严重。 尽管在开发和改进实验室测试以筛选已识别病毒方面已经进行了大量研究，但在解决血液供应问题方面却做得很少。 关于人们为什么不献血的研究非常缺乏。 有限的研究探讨了当前捐助者的动机；但没有研究为什么大约 55% 的人从未捐赠过，或者为什么 45% 的人至少捐赠过一次但又停止了。 该项目旨在回答这些问题。 研究结果对于制定政策以及设计捐助者招募和保留工作都非常宝贵。 我们建议对 18 至 65 岁之间的个人进行全国随机数字拨号电话调查，以确定献血的流行程度并评估献血的激励因素、障碍和威慑因素。 大约 8000 名受访者将接受采访。 该设计将使我们能够估计三个主要种族/族裔群体的比率，并估计每个群体中从未捐赠者、前捐赠者和当前捐赠者的百分比。 我们还将评估每个种族/族裔群体的献血态度、信仰和做法，并对从未和曾经献血者进行比较，以确定显着差异。 该调查还将提供客观评估利他主义并确定其在献血中的重要性的机会。 调查结果对于帮助设计确保血液供应所需的有效招募和保留计划非常宝贵。 研究结果将迅速传播给输血医学界和政府机构。

DESCRIPTION (provided by investigator): The country is potentially facing a blood shortage crisis because the margin between blood collections and use has continued to decline. A significant percentage of hospitals report not being able to meet surgical and non-surgical demands. Adequacy of our blood supply is fragile since only a small number of eligible individuals actually donate blood. Fear of possible transfusion-transmitted variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease from donors who have traveled to parts of Europe where bovine spongiform encephalitis has been identified (mad cow disease) has resulted in new stringent donor deferral criteria that are projected to disqualify 8 percent of donors. The impact will be even more severe in areas such as New York that rely heavily on imported European blood to meet patients' needs. While there has been considerable research in developing and improving laboratory tests to screen for identified viruses, little has been done to address issues of blood availability. Research on why people do not give blood is sorely lacking. Limited research has addressed motivations in current donors; but have not examined why approximately 55 percent of the population has never donated or why 45 percent donates at least once but stop. This project is designed to answer these questions. Findings will be invaluable for both formulating policy and for designing donor recruitment and retention efforts. We propose to conduct a national random digit dialing telephone survey of individuals between the ages of 18 to 65 to determine the prevalence of donating blood and to assess motivating factors, barriers, and deterrents for donating. Approximately 8000 respondents will be interviewed. The design will enable us to estimate rates for three major racial/ethnic groups, and estimate the percentage of never donors, ex-donors and current donors in each group. We will also assess blood donation attitudes, beliefs, and practices in each racial/ethnic group and make comparisons within the never-and ever-donors to identify significant differences. The survey will also provide the opportunity to objectively assess altruism and determine its importance in donating blood. Results from the survey will be invaluable in helping design effective recruitment and retention programs needed to ensure blood availability. Findings will be rapidly disseminated to the transfusion medical community and government agencies.