Influence of Gender and Previous Blood Donation Status on Attitude Toward Blood Donation: a Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Blood supply shortage may affect the health of patients who are transfusion-dependent. Consequently, blood donation plays an important role in the community as it can provide sufficient blood supply at blood bank centers. Medical sciences students can help promote blood donation. The current study aimed to assess the knowledge on, attitude toward, and barriers on blood donation among medical sciences students at the Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences of Jazan University, Saudi Arabia.
Methods: An online questionnaire with 23 knowledge and attitude questions was established using Google Forms. Statistical analysis was performed based on gender and blood donation status (never donated, unable to donate, and donated blood).
Results: In total, 601 participants from six different departments responded to the questionnaire. Interestingly, female students had a higher rate of accurate responses toward the knowledge and attitude questions than male students (p < 0.01). Furthermore, students who previously donated had a higher rate of accurate responses to the questions than those who were not able to or never donated blood (p < 0.01).
Conclusions: The questionnaire was designed to assess the general knowledge and attitude of medical sciences students and barriers on blood donation. Female gender and a history of blood donation had a significant impact on responses. Therefore, more efforts are required to educate students regarding the importance of blood donation among patients who are transfusion-dependent.