They do not return to donate blood due to commitments with work, family or sporting activities. They are the Avis Toscana donors who have shown up at least once in the transfusion centers, but who today show a disaffection mainly attributable to these causes.
One reveals it research developed by Department of Political Sciences of the University of Pisawhich highlights how almost 7 (6.6) ex-donors out of 10 today remain undecided whether to return to donating blood and plasma. A trend which, it is explained, appears stronger in the age range from 26 to 35.
The investigation, which is part of the larger Re.Atti.Vo project co-financed by the Tuscany Region and the Ministry of Labor, lasted 2 months (from October to December 2023) and examined an audience of approximately 7000 former donors identified in Tuscany, from which a representative sample of 370 donors was extracted. The underlying objective of the report is twofold: to increase the number of new donors on the one hand, and to retain those who have already volunteered on the other.
Among the “no longer donors”, it is noted, it is necessary to distinguish those who have stopped completely from those who find themselves in a state of uncertainty regarding the possibility of returning to donating. A scenario that Avis Toscana observes with great attention, even in the face of high and periodic needs.
Taking the indicated sample into consideration, 66% of those interviewed are in fact uncertain whether to return to donating, while the remaining part (33.9%) will no longer be able to do so (in fact, these are definitive terminations). And, if in this second segment the reached age limits and health reasons have an impact, in the first the picture becomes more jagged.
Among the causes that generated the interruption stand out: pregnancies, tattoos and piercings, health reasons, travel, moves to other cities and the pandemic. The age group in which the greatest number of uncertainties is observed is between 26 and 35 yearswhile regarding gender there is substantial equality.
As for the employment position, the survey reveals how approximately 81% have a stable jobbut also that the donation becomes less sustainable for employees in the private sector, a segment which reaches a suspension rate of 41%.
«However – he observes Andrea Salvini, full professor of Sociology general at the Department of Political Sciences of Unipi – there is a large part of the sample who declares their intention to return to donating. To do this, however, it is necessary to overcome the causes of disaffection that currently prevent us from starting again. It’s about getting out of what we see as a condition of temporary oblivion.”
Causes which, according to the investigation, mainly consist of iwork commitments (approximately 32% of the sample), family commitments (20%) and time to dedicate to sports or other interests (9%). Next in the ranking are study commitments (7.6%), the difficulty of reaching the transfusion center (7.6%), those linked to anxiety and apprehension connected to the gesture (6.2%) and the possibility of taking leave from work (6.2%).
«It’s a research – comments the president of Avis Toscana, Claudia Firenze – both interesting and uncomfortable. The need for blood and plasma in Tuscany continues to grow and, alongside the base of periodic donors, we need to bring in new volunteers and recover those who are in a state of disaffection. The survey shows that the greatest difficulty is reconciling the commitments of private life with the culture of giving. The signals cannot therefore be underestimated, but we don’t stop here. Thanks to our Re.Atti.Vo project, we are already working to prepare concrete countermeasures to reduce this gap, and to promote greater time flexibility in blood transfusion centers. Alongside this, we plan to improve the call and booking procedures which are carried out by our volunteers who, appropriately trained, will discuss each other in the territories, so as to make the entire donation process even more streamlined and fluid”.
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