Knowledge and attitude of people in Meghalaya toward blood donation

Abstract

Background: The demand and supply imbalance of safe blood in our country is due to deficit of awareness. Attitude also plays a role but attitude is driven by knowledge. It is important therefore to know the level of knowledge and nature of attitude of the people to understand the demand and supply imbalance of safe blood. Objectives: This study aims in assessing knowledge and attitude of the residents of East Khasi Hills district of the state of Meghalaya toward blood donation. Materials and Methods: It is a descriptive, cross-sectional study that involved 382 participants who were between 18 and 65 years of age and were residents of East Khasi Hills district. A self-administered questionnaire was given to participants selected randomly on a first-come-first-serve basis. Results: Out of 382 participants, 163 (42.7%) were blood donors. Again 163 (42.7%) participants had a knowledge score of 5 out of 5. 48.2% of participants said that the reason for blood donation is to save lives. As for reason for not donating blood, 23.3% said that it is the lack of time. 73% of the non-donors were willing to donate blood when needed in the future. Conclusion: Although knowledge regarding blood donation was sound, the percentage of non-donors is significantly large at 57.3% and 73% of the non-donors were actually willing to donate blood. Most potential donors would donate for replacement only. Motivation is important to convert the replacement donors into regular voluntary blood donors.