Investigating Knowledge and Attitudes of Blood Donors and Barriers Concerning Blood Donation in Jordan

A range of socio-demographic, organizational, physiological and psychological factors may influence peoples’ willingness to donate blood. Education had positive influence on attitudes towards blood donation as well as blood donors’ satisfaction to the time and location of donation. The most common misconceptions about blood donation were the risk of infection; selling donated blood to patients, and that blood donation believed to cause physical weakness. This paper is a report of a study of blood donation knowledge, attitudes and barriers. The aims of the study were to determine: (1) Jordanian blood donors’ level of knowledge of blood donation. (2) Jordanian blood donors’ attitudes towards donation. (3) Barriers influence blood donation in Jordan. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from 500 blood donors between August 2011 and November 2011 using self-reported questionnaire. Relatively inadequate knowledge about blood donation was found as only 28.6% of participants scored their knowledge above the average. Friends, encouraging media, and religion were influential factors affecting their knowledge and attitudes related to blood donation. Since educational programs about blood donation are not frequently used in Jordan, there is a need to emphasize education as a key to improve population knowledge and attitudes towards blood donation.