Voluntary blood donation in Poland – about the need for social research on barriers and disadvantages

Abstract

Background: Statistics on the number of blood donors and blood donations in Poland have been decreasing every year for the last decade. This state of affairs raises the need for the social sciences to engage in research into the barriers to attracting new donors and retaining ongoing donors. Purpose: The objective of this article is to outline the two main barriers to attracting new blood donors and retaining existing ones. The second A second aim is also to highlight the fact that no research in the domain of social sciences has so far been undertaken in Poland to reverse the declining trend in the number of donors and donations. Methods: An analysis of the literature on the subject and GUS data was used. Results: The analysis identified two key barriers that require the development of Polish adaptations of tools to empirically investigate them. Conclusion: There is an important need to focus on the issue of blood donation in Poland. Investigating all the variables behind the declining number of donors will allow the declining trend to be reversed. A lack of research into factors that strengthen the motivation to donate blood may have serious and negative consequences in the coming decades. Keywords: Blood donations, psychology, Poland, psychological barriers.