Knowledge, attitude, and blood donation practices among medical students of Taif University, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: People's need for blood increases every day. That is very important to assess knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) toward blood donation especially on medical students. Objectives: The objective of the study is to determine the KAPs about blood donation among medical students of Taif university. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study with a sample of 300 medical students of Taif university in Taif Saudi Arabia conducted from September 29, 2020, to April 29, 2021. A pre–designed questionnaire was used to collect data about their KAP toward blood donation. Results: The analysis of 318 medical students showed that 33.0% had a good, 30.5% had average, and 36.5% had poor knowledge related to blood donation. Of them, 28.3% had good attitude, 53.5% had fair, and 18.2% had poor attitudes toward blood donation. The scores of practices were also classified into “Good,” “Fair” and “Poor” based on the percentage obtained > 75%, 60%–75%, <60%, respectively. About 17% (17.3%) of students had demonstrated good practices, whereas most students (76.7%) showed poor practices. There was no statistically significant difference observed between female and male students except in 1st medical students the attitude was good in males (30.1%) compared to females (12%). Relationship of knowledge with practices found about 49.1% of the students who had demonstrated good knowledge showed good practices. Conclusion: About one-third of the participants had shown good knowledge about blood donation and the majority had a positive attitude toward future donation.