Attitude toward blood donation among medical and nonmedical students across Karachi

AIM: To evaluate the factors that motivate and discourage medical and nonmedical students from donating blood voluntarily and to assess the level of awareness and knowledge regarding blood donation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study from August 2011 to May 2012 across different universities of Karachi covering both private and public sector. Predesigned questionnaires were filled by students. A total of 690 students participated in the study, 345 from each. Data collected was analyzed using SPSS Version 17.0. Simple frequencies and percentages were calculated, and Pearson Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were applied to calculate association between different variables with P value set as significant when <0.05. RESULTS: Mean age of the students was found to be between 21 and 23 (64.6%) in medical, whereas in nonmedical, 66.7% fell in this age group. Astonishingly, blood donors in nonmedical (27%) were quite more than that in medical group, where they were only 18%. Males constituted the majority in both of the groups. Most commonly reported factor that motivated blood donation in medical group was feeling of self-satisfaction (40.2%), whereas in nonmedical group, 32.9% reported that they had only donated blood when their friends/family were in need. When asked about the adverse effects after blood donation, weakness was common among both medical and nonmedical, i.e. 46.8% and 46.7%, respectively. Among the factors that impeded our subjects from donating blood were primarily health concerns in medical students (19%), whereas in nonmedical students they claimed they were not approached by anyone and were unaware of the importance of blood donation (34.8%). CONCLUSION: Proportion of blood donors was significantly low in both medical and nonmedical students, especially in females. Most important motivating factor in medical students was feeling of self–satisfaction, whereas in nonmedical students, it was family/friend in need of blood transfusion. Never approached by anyone/awareness about the importance of donating blood was the major discouragement factor seen in both medical and nonmedical groups.