Screening potential blood donors at risk for human immunodeficiency virus

Abstract

Even though all blood donated for transfusion is tested for the presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibodies, there exists a period of time after infection by the virus before these antibodies can be detected. Blood donated during this window period is capable of transmitting the virus. Therefore, the blood of persons who are at risk for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) should not enter the blood supply. Over a period of 4 months, 6573 potential blood donors who entered fixed and mobile blood collection sites in two cities were exposed to alternative interventions the aim of which was to exclude persons at risk for AIDS. We compared the interventions to one another and to existing materials in terms of the numbers of at-risk persons who did or did not donate for transfusion, the amount of attention paid to the materials, the scores on a comprehension test, and the self-reports by the subjects of attitudes towards the various interventions. At-risk donors who were asked direct AIDS risk behavior questions in addition to the current health history questions were more likely to be screened out than those who underwent alternative health history interviews (p less than 0.01). Potential donors paid more attention to the experimental brochures than to the experimental video or current materials (p less than 0.05). Comprehension scores were better for the new brochure and the video than for the current brochure (p less than 0.05). Donors were not offended by the experimental interventions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Comparison of deferral rates using a computerized versus written blood donor questionnaire: a randomized, cross-over study [ISRCTN84429599]

“…A potential role for improved risk factor detection through pre-donation screening would be to reduce the risks from as yet unknown blood borne diseases if these diseases were associated with other known risk groups. Explicit direct questions instead of indirect references to high-risk behaviours for HIV/AIDS have been shown to increase self-deferral rates in donors at least two-fold [12,13]. It has been estimated that the standard donor health assessment questionnaire may miss as many as 10% of donors who engage in high-risk behaviours [6].…”

Prevalence, disclosure and interpretations of sexual activities in a sample of Canadian college-aged blood donors

“…A social desirability effect may be a factor in donating blood, given that individuals are already motivated by altruistic factors, and may want to present themselves as ® tting with whatever description they hold of à good blood donor'. Indeed, previous donors have been found to under-report negative activities, such as blood safety risk behaviours, but to overreport positive activities, such as reading screening information 14 .…”

Blood Donation and Collection

“…74 When local demographics demand, it may be wise to accommodate donors with materials written in a language that they can understand; otherwise, translators may be necessary. To help ensure that the prospective donor is properly informed, educational material about the donation process is distributed, including information about screening, phlebotomy, and potential donation-related complications.…”