Factors influencing the return of inactive blood donors in a Cameroonian blood bank

Abstract

Identify factors that influence the return of donors to increase their loyalty while improving blood safety is crucial in our context. Between October 2017 and April 2018, we conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study at the Blood Bank of the Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital. The study included all former donors who had not donated blood voluntarily for over a year. Quantitative variables were described using means and standard deviations. Fisher's exact test and Chi2 test were used for association measures between qualitative variables. Statistical test results were considered significant for a P<0.05 value. We interviewed a total of 101 inactive donors. The study population was 74.3% male, donors average 30±7 years. Female gender and good staff hospitality were the factors most associated with the intention to return. The barriers to donor return were mainly lack of information on blood needs (35.60%) and time constraint for blood donation (26.73%). Pro-social motivations such as altruism (30.70%) were the main possible sources of motivation cited. To reduce blood deficiency and mortality due to lack of blood products, non-financial material compensation, good outreach and communication strategy can increase inactive donors' loyalty and consequently in improving blood safety in our context.