title: Why would young people donate blood? A survey-based questionnaire study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Different issues associated with blood donation among young donors were studied, towards building a large and consistent blood donor base.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected from 221/285 donors in drives conducted among military personnel (response rate of 78%), through a self-administered questionnaire tailored to review knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and habits regarding blood and general donations. Data were then further analysed using a multivariate model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most significant factors related to blood donation were the donors' perception of approval from a superior (the commander's request to donate blood) and the participant's military rank or position (P < 0.0001 and P = 0.0019, respectively). Experienced blood donors comprised 71.9 % of all donors and more donations were noted among men (P = 0.0013).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The important role of a significant superior, and his or her personal involvement in the blood drive organization was elucidated. Various other factors, previously found to be related to readiness or reluctance to donate blood, were insignificant among the studied population. Our finding may assist blood centres in optimizing their efforts in recruiting and retention of young donors.
authors.affiliation: Division of Medicine, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel. idow@hadassah.org.il
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Weinberg
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zarka
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shinar
mesh_terms: D001782:Blood Donors / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel; D009042:Motivation; D011639:Public Opinion; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult