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Background: Providing educational materials to deferred donors has been shown to increase their understanding about their deferral and knowledge about their return. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of educational materials in increasing the retention of deferred donors., Study Design and Methods: A three-arm cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted, with the following conditions: (a) Incenter Brochure plus Email; (b) Email Only; (c) Control. The Incenter Brochure plus Email condition also included a guided conversation led by staff at the point of deferral. Donors were followed up for 3 months after their deferral had ended to determine if they had attempted to donate., Results: Compared with the Control condition, donors in the Incenter Brochure plus Email condition had increased odds of return at 3 months after their deferral ended (OR: 1.16; 95% CI 1.00-1.33). Subgroup analysis highlighted that novice (OR: 1.38; 95% CI 1.04-1.83) and established donors (OR: 1.36; 95% CI 1.13-1.64) had increased odds of return if they received the incenter materials. Donors who were deferred to maintain their well-being (OR: 1.28; 95% CI 1.03-1.60) and donors with a prior deferral history (OR: 1.55; 95% CI 1.15-1.55) had increased odds of return if they received the incenter materials. No significant differences were found between the Email Only and Control conditions., Discussion: This trial demonstrates the benefits of providing onsite educational materials to donors at the point of deferral. This is a simple, effective strategy to increase the return behavior of donors within 3 months of their deferral ending., (© 2022 AABB.)

Background: The application of a temporary deferral often leads to donor lapse. Contributing factors may be donors not knowing when their deferral ends or not being contacted and asked to return. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a reminder message notifying donors that their deferral is coming to an end in increasing donors' postdeferral return rates. We evaluated the optimal time, content, and mode of delivery of the reminder message., Study Design and Methods: Two studies were conducted with deferred donors. Study 1: donors (n = 1676) were randomized to be sent a reminder message at one of three time points (4 weeks before, 1 week before, and 1 week after their deferral ended) or to a no contact control condition. Study 2: donors (n = 1973) were randomized to three message type conditions (emotive email, nonemotive email, nonemotive SMS). Attempted return behavior was extracted (appointments, attendances) at 1 month., Results: In Study 1, being sent the reminder message increased odds of donors attempting to return within 3 months compared with the control group (OR:2.01). Sending the reminder 1 week before the deferral ended was the most effective time point. In Study 2, the nonemotive message increased the odds of attempting to return compared with the emotive message (OR:1.38). No differences were found between email and SMS messages., Discussion: Sending a reminder message to donors when their deferral is coming to an end is a simple, effective, and cost-effective method to retain donors., (© 2021 AABB.)

Background: O-negative donors are a critical resource for blood collection agencies, and their recruitment and retention provides an ongoing challenge. Motivational interviewing shows promise as a tool to promote donor retention, although concerns about scalability remain. The current study examined the effect of an automated Web-based interview drawing on motivational interviewing and self-determination theory on O-negative donors' motivation, intention, and behavior., Study Design and Methods: Within 13 days of donating, 2820 O-negative donors completed baseline measures of motivation and intention before being randomly assigned to complete either a motivational interview (MI) or active control interview (ACI). Motivation and intention were assessed at 2 days and at 7 weeks after participation in the MI or ACI, with return behavior tracked for 6 months following trial completion., Results: Changes in donor motivation and intention, rate, and time to return did not vary by participation in the MI or ACI. When compared with O-negative donors who experienced business-as-usual practices, donors completing the MI or ACI returned to donate more, and they returned more quickly. However, subsequent exploratory analyses considering the behavior of those who did not accept the invitation to participate and those who completed only baseline measures showed that the improved return behavior of donors in the MI or ACI conditions was likely not due to any specific properties of the MI or ACI activities., Conclusions: Australian O-negative donors were highly internally motivated and committed to donating. An automated Web-based motivational interview appears to be of limited effectiveness in promoting the return of such donors., (© 2020 AABB.)

Background: Receiving a temporary deferral has been shown to negatively affect donor retention. One contributing factor for low donor return may be poor understanding of why the deferral has occurred. The aim of this study was to determine whether new educational materials-a brochure, guided conversation, and follow-up email-increased deferred donors' knowledge about their donation eligibility, satisfaction with the deferral process, intention to return, and odds of rebooking another appointment., Study Design and Methods: A three-arm cluster randomised controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the impact of the educational materials compared to business as usual deferral procedures: (a) In-center brochure and follow-up email; (b) Email only; (c) Control. A survey was administered to a random sample of trial participants (n = 847)., Results: Compared with the control condition, donors in the in-center brochure and email condition were more knowledgeable about the end date of their deferral, and reported higher satisfaction with the deferral information provided, and had fewer questions and/or concerns about the deferral. Similar findings were observed when comparing the email only condition to the in-center brochure and email condition. No differences were found in intention to return. Donors in the in-center brochure plus email condition had increased odds (OR:1.385) of rebooking their next appointment compared to the combined email only and control conditions., Conclusions: The application of a deferral is often misunderstood by donors. Providing educational materials to donors can increase their understanding and may lead to increased retention of donors through rebooking of subsequent donations., (© 2020 AABB.)

Background: The aim of this study was to understand Australian donors' and nondonors' orientations toward 13 noncash incentives for blood and plasma donation and the associations between orientations and intention to donate (nondonors) and subsequent donation (donors)., Study Design and Methods: A survey of 1028 donors and 1201 nondonors was conducted online and by telephone. Donors were randomly selected from the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood donor panel; nondonors were selected from randomly generated fixed line and mobile telephone numbers across Australia. Incentives were chosen to reflect a wide array of possible noncash incentives that might be introduced by blood donation organizations (BDOs). Differences between donors and nondonors, as well as other subgroups, were investigated., Results: Orientations toward most types of incentives were positive or neutral. No significant differences were observed between incentive orientations for whole blood versus plasma donations. Many subgroup differences were small but statistically significant. There were mostly small, positive, significant associations between nondonors' intention to donate and orientations toward noncash incentives; there were mostly no significant associations between donors' orientations and subsequent donation behaviors., Conclusion: The findings from this study suggest that BDOs that wish to trial noncash incentives in voluntary nonremunerative systems can be confident that neither donors nor potential donors will react negatively. They also indicate that BDOs have some flexibility in deciding which incentives to trial., (© 2020 AABB.)