Assessing Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Blood Donors in India during the Covid-19 Pandemic: A KAP Analysis Study

Abstract

Background: An awareness of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of blood donors towards COVID-19 pandemic is essential to avoid blood inventory crisis. It is therefore necessary to gain a perspective on the impact of COVID-19 on attitude of blood donors and an understanding of the key aspects of their motivation. Methods: A prospective longitudinal study was conducted at The Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion at a tertiary care teaching hospital in India over four months spanning over December 2021 to March 2022. The chi-square analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship of knowledge, attitude & practices of donors with their demographic parameters. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant at a confidence interval (CI) of 95%. Results:  A total of 632 donors were included in the study and assessed for donor attitude and fear factors related to blood donation during COVID-19 pandemic. The mean age of the study population was 31 years. In terms of donor attitude, most common positive attitude was that they “would donate blood in the blood center where mask and sanitizer are available for all staff and blood donors”. Most common negative attitude was that “they had been in close contact with a patient who had a respiratory infection, so they should not donate blood”. Among the demographic variables, residential status, education & donation frequency showed a significant (p <0.05) association with donor attitude factors while its association with age and gender was found to be statistically insignificant (p >0.05). Conclusions: Adequate sharing of information and proper communication of the precautionary measures at blood centers to contain the spread of covid-19 infection and effective counseling would help in motivating and retaining blood donors. Interventions should be implemented directed at donor population to create awareness and neutralize the myths associated with blood donation during COVID-19 pandemic.