Women's Blood Donation: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Reasons for Non-Donation of Blood among Female Staff at Tehran Blood Transfusion Center

The blood donation proportion of women to men is 1 to 9 in Iran. Lack of time, fear of needling and difficult access to donation sites were main reasons for not donating blood in previous studies. The aim of this study was to assess barriers of blood donation by women working in Tehran blood transfusion center. To achieve the aim of this study we designed a qualitative research. The study population came from female personnel in Tehran Blood Transfusion Center (TBTC) they were recruited by qualitative purposeful sampling with no history of blood donation. Twenty-seven female personnel of TBTC aged 21-55 years old were entered to two focus group discussions. In the focus group discussion, knowledge of participants about the needs and importance of blood donation and donor acceptance criteria was desirable. There were common fears and beliefs about blood donation, similar to the results of previous study in general female population, including weakness, concerns of having or developing anemia, fear of needling, being in reproductive age, menstruation cycle, pregnancy and childbearing stage. Some of participants believed that working in TBTC, especially in technical units, acts as a deterrent For few females who worked in TBTC, concern of a positive test result either true or false was another cause of not blood donation. A few donors mentioned that derived plasma from female bloods was not used and also some others experienced complicated blood donation in clients. So they did not attempt to donate blood. At first, it seemed that female staff working in TBTC might have different perceptions about blood donation because of greater awareness than women in the general community. However the results of this study showed that reasons of not donating blood in this group of women was not different from females in the general population.