Blood Donors' Preferences Toward Incentives for Donation in China

Abstract

ImportanceBlood donation is critical for health care systems, but donor retention remains challenging. Understanding donors’ preferences can inform incentive design and improve retention rates.ObjectiveTo identify donor preferences for incentive attributes and their relative importance in promoting blood donation among Chinese donors in Shandong.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis survey study fielded a discrete choice experiment (DCE) with a dual response design among blood donors, analyzing the responses under forced and unforced choice settings. The study took place from January 1 to April 30, 2022, in 3 cities (Yantai, Jinan, and Heze) representing diverse socioeconomic strata in Shandong, China. Eligible participants were blood donors aged 18 to 60 years who had donated within the preceding 12 months. Participants were recruited using convenience sampling. Data were analyzed from May to June 2022.ExposureRespondents were presented with different blood donation incentive profiles, varying in health examination, blood recipient, honor recognition, travel time, and gift value.Main Outcome and MeasureRespondent preferences for nonmonetary incentive attributes, attribute relative importance, willingness-to-discard values for attribute improvement, and estimated uptake of new incentive profiles.ResultsA total of 650 donors were invited, of which 477 were included for analysis. The respondents were predominately male (308 respondents [64.6%]), aged 18 to 34 years (291 respondents [61.0%]), and had undergraduate degrees or higher (286 respondents [59.9%]). Among the 477 valid respondents, the mean (SD) age was 31.9 (11.2) years. Respondents preferred comprehensive health examination, family members as recipients, central government recognition, 30-minute travel time, and a gift valued at 60 Renminbi (RMB). No significant differences were found between the model results of forced and unforced choice setting. Blood recipient was the most important attribute, followed by health examination and gifts, and then honor and travel time. Respondents were willing to discard RMB 32 (95% CI, 18-46) for an improved health examination and RMB 69 (95% CI, 47-92) for changing the recipient from themselves to family members. Scenario analysis estimated 80.3% (SE, 0.024) of donors would endorse the new incentive profile if the recipient was changed from themselves to family members.Conclusions and RelevanceIn this survey study, blood recipient, health examination, and gift value were perceived more important as nonmonetary incentives than travel time and honor recognition. Tailoring incentives according to these preferences may improve donor retention. Further research could help refine and optimize incentive schemes for blood donation promotion.

Voluntary blood donation preferences in China: A discrete choice experiment among experienced and inexperienced donors

“…Second, similar to previous research among active donors in China [12], findings from the present study indicated that small token gifts (e.g., mugs) were important to experienced and inexperienced donors alike. Small token gifts such as mugs may have limited monetary value but may effectively demonstrate gratitude to the donor.…”

“…The total volume of blood donated in 2022 was 27.6 million units, with an average annual growth rate of 14.5% [8, 9], and the number of blood donors in 2022 exceeded 16 million, with an average annual growth rate of the number of blood donors of 16.3 percent [8, 9]. To date, approximately 453 blood stations have been constructed nationwide [9], and the level of blood security has greatly improved [10–16].…”

“…As China's population rapidly ages, current levels of voluntary blood donation will not be able to meet the rising demand in the future [6, 8–10]; the proportion of children (0–14) has dropped from 22.9% in 2000 to 17.95% in 2020, but the proportion of the senior population (over 65 years old) has increased from 7% to 13.5% in 2020 [17, 18]. According to forecasts from the United Nations, the share of the elderly population in China will increase to 48.3% by the year 2080 [12–14]. When the population ageing process intensifies, the ageing population will be less eligible to donate blood yet will require more blood transfusion due to higher incidence of disease afflictions and the need for more frequent medical procedures [19–21].…”

“…In China, financial rewards for donating blood are illegal [3, 30], and providing paid leave is recommended by local regulations [22, 31–35]. There have been claims that gifts are deemed more important than non‐monetary incentives such as travel time [12], but there has been scanty empirical evidence about the influence of gifts and paid leave on blood donation preferences in China.…”

Error in Bylines

“…In the Original Investigation titled “Blood Donors’ Preferences Toward Incentives for Donation in China,” 1 published June 14, 2023, and in the Invited Commentary titled “Genome Sequencing for Newborn Screening—An Effective Approach for Tackling Rare Diseases,” 2 published September 1, 2023, there were errors in the bylines. Shan Jiang’s degree should have been listed as an MSc.…”