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The chasm between blood donation intention and action: a study among college students in Delhi, India

Abstract Introduction: The demand and requirement for blood exceeds the supply from blood donations. There is a need to retain the donors as well as increase the source-pool by motivating the non-donors. Objectives: To study the blood donation intention and current status among college students in a region of Delhi, and the associated motivating and barrier factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted in four colleges in east Delhi. The participants were 674 adolescent students selected by cluster sampling, interviewed using a semi-open-ended, self-administered questionnaire. Results: The sample consisted of 239 (35.5%) males and 435 (64.5%) female students, aged 17–25 years. Of the students, 86 (12.8%) were blood donors. Most donors (60; 69.8%) had donated once, 11 (12.8%) twice, and 15 (17.4%) on more than two occasions. Majority of the non-donors (506; 86.1%) stated that they would like to donate blood in the future. The most common reason mentioned for not having donated blood so far was ‘never been asked to donate’. The potential motivating factors mentioned were ‘more information’ (40.5%) and ‘convenient location and time’ (27.9%). The reasons mentioned as barrier factors included ‘fear of HIV infection’ (27.0%) and ‘fear of damage to health’ (22.6%). There was a significant gap between the proportions of those with positive intention and those who had actually donated. Conclusions: Many potential barriers to donation were mentioned by the non-donors, which need to be addressed by the policy makers. There is a need for special focus on the college student population for voluntary blood donation.