The influence of sociodemographic factors, knowledge and attitude on the practice of blood donation

Background: Maintaining a constant supply of blood in the blood bank is essential to the practice of medicine today. Safe supplies can only be achieved by continual recruitment and retention of voluntary blood donors which is based on effective and efficient education/intervention. Aim: The study was aimed at assessing the knowledge, attitude and practice of blood donation amongst adults in Mushin local government of Lagos and determining the factors which affect the practice of blood donation. Study Design: This was a cross-sectional study involving 360 adults recruited using a multistage sampling technique. A structured pre-tested questionnaire was used to collected data on knowledge, attitude and practice. Data analysed using SPSS version 21. Frequency and percentages were calculated for categorical data and mean was determined for continuous data. Association was determined by unconditional logistic regression. Statistical significance was considered at P=0.05. Results: The mean age of respondents was 35.08± 11.6years and males accounted for 54.89% (194) of study population. Two hundred and forty three (67.5%) had adequate knowledge of blood donation while 315(87.5%) had a favourable attitude. Only 63(17.5%) had ever donated blood before. Males, who had adequate knowledge (AOR=7.128, CI=2.55-19.91), tertiary education (AOR=6.433, CI=2.084-19.85) and between the ages of 41-50years (AOR=6.027, CI=2.655-13.680) had greater odds of donating blood. Fear was the major deterrent to donation blood. Conclusion: The practice of blood donation was low. Key determinants for the practice of blood donation were male sex, adequacy of knowledge, tertiary education and age between 41 and 50years. Keywords: Voluntary non remunerated donors, knowledge, attitude, practice, blood donation