Does donating blood for the first time during a national emergency create a better commitment to donating again?

Abstract

Background and Objectives Emergency situations often elicit a generous response from the public. This occurred after attacks on the US on September 11, 2001 when many new blood donors lined up to donate. This study was performed to compare return rates for first time donors (FTD) after September 11th, 2001 to FTD during a comparable period in 2000. Materials and Methods A total of 3315 allogeneic whole blood donations from FTD at a regional blood centre were collected between September 11th and 30th, 2001. Subsequent donations by the FTD before March 31, 2002 were reviewed. This (test) group was compared to 1279 FTD (control group) donating during the same time period in September 2000 and to their return rate in the subsequent 6 months. Results Following September 11, 2001, 1087/3315 (32·8%) FTD returned by March 31, 2002. This return rate was similar to the control group [427/1279 (33·4%)]. The deferral rate during the donor screening process for the control group was significantly higher than the deferral rate for the September 11–30, 2001 group (P < 0·01). The odds of an individual FTD returning increased with age, and the chance of a female donor returning was 1·13 times higher than a male (P = 0·06). There was a carryover effect after September 11, 2001 too. Conclusion A national emergency, September 11, 2001, inspired people to donate blood for the first time. However, the proportion of return donations amongst them was not increased. Females and males in certain age groups were more likely to become repeat donors due to the residual effect of September 11, 2001. Additional efforts are needed to retain eligible FTD in donor pools.

Postdisaster Volatility of Blood Donations in an Unsteady Blood Supply Chain*

“…A similar observation was made in Tran et al. () where the commitment of first‐time donors that become repeat donors after a national emergency was investigated. The authors concluded that new donors after a disaster are less likely to become repeat donors.…”

The Dark Side of Using Emergencies in Direct Marketing Campaigns for Blood Donation Services

“…3 Moreover, prior findings with respect to the positive effects of emergency-related direct marketing activities are probably empirically overstated because of selection effects. The observed increase of donations triggered by emergencies may be related to mass media reporting of the emergency and subsequent word-of-mouth effects (Payne 1994, McMellon and Long 2006, Tran et al 2010, which are unrelated to advertising. Thus, it is not clear whether the increase in donations is causally influenced by direct marketing activities based on the emergency or based only on the emergency itself.…”

Blood donor to inactive donor transition in the Basel region between 1996 and 2011: a retrospective cohort study

“…Several studies that have assessed factors influencing donor return and donor lapse of first‐time donors or donors in general have shown that no past deferrals, no donation‐related adverse events and satisfaction with the last donation experience were associated with higher return rates overall . Many studies show a gender‐specific donor behaviour, with most data indicating a higher return rates for males , and one study reporting higher return rates for females . Older donors , individuals with higher education and employed donors were also shown to have higher return rates.…”