title: The symbolic roots of blood donation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Throughout history, blood has been embedded with powerful and paradoxical connotations. In the last decades, a more rational conception based on scientific knowledge has emerged, portraying blood as a "disenchanted" and utilitarian object, hence more apt for donation between strangers. This study aims to examine blood's representations in Quebec, Canada.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected in four separate studies carried out between 2009 and 2011 in Quebec. A total of 234 1 to 1½ hour-long semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with: 184 donors (including lapsed donors) and 50 nondonors; 106 women and 128 men from a variety of age groups eligible to donate; 76 minority informants from Asian, Middle-Eastern, Latin American, African, and Caribbean origins; and 158 informants from the majority society.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Many respondents donated blood because it was a "useful" substance. Others associated blood donation with a gift of vitality, strength, and energy. Some stressed the irreplaceable nature of blood, its rarity, and preciousness. It can also be associated with worrisome representations and seen as "bad" or carry infections: as a fluid, it has the ability to cross troublesome body boundaries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This overview of contemporary representations of blood in relation to blood donation in Quebec illustrates that though this substance might be disenchanted for many, it still maintains its mysteriousness for others, which underpins the importance of its social, cultural, and religious representations that can potentially lead to useful avenues in improving donor recruitment and retention.
authors.affiliation: Université INRS, Centre Urbanisation Culture Société, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Johanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Charbonneau
authors.forename: Nathalie Y-Lang
authors.initials: NY
authors.lastname: Tran
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000533:Altruism; D001782:Blood Donors / Q000523:psychology*; D003469:Culture; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D037921:Gift Giving; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D019369:Life; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology; D009339:Needles