title: Blood donation knowledge and attitudes among undergraduate health science students: A cross-sectional study.
abstract: Awareness towards blood donation can be empowered by health professionals' role-modelling. We aimed to assess knowledge and attitudes among Greek undergraduate medical laboratory students. A questionnaire was distributed to 330 students (response rate: 88.7%). Overall, 24% had donated blood at least once, with males 4.62 times more likely to be donors. Voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors were more likely to be repeaters. A quarter of all students were inclined to offer blood for monetary reward, with men more prone to accept payment. There is a need to campaign health science students during formal education through need-based as well as altruistic 'smart' messages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Hygiene, Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Papakiriazi 22, Larissa 41222, Greece.
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Papagiannis
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Hygiene, Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Papakiriazi 22, Larissa 41222, Greece. Electronic address: grachiotis@gmail.com.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rachiotis
authors.affiliation: Private Family Practice Unit in Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
authors.forename: Emmanouil K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Symvoulakis
authors.affiliation: Primary Health Care Centre of Kissamos, Chania, Crete, Greece.
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Anyfantakis
authors.affiliation: Technological Institute of Thessalia, Ring Road, Larissa 41110, Greece.
authors.forename: Karolos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Douvlataniotis
authors.affiliation: Technological Institute of Thessalia, Ring Road, Larissa 41110, Greece.
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zilidis
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Greece.
authors.forename: Adelais
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Markaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Hygiene, Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Papakiriazi 22, Larissa 41222, Greece.
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hadjichristodoulou
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001782:Blood Donors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Attitude; Blood donation; Health science students; Knowledge; Undergraduate