Attitudes of medical and nursing students towards blood donation.
BACKGROUND: Data on the attitudes of medical and nursing students towards blood donation are scanty. Since this group is a potential but under-utilized source of blood donors, studying their attitudes could provide insights into donor-related behaviour and, hence have implications for donor recruitment programmes. METHODS: The attitudes towards blood donation and frequency of donation of 307 medical and nursing students were studied using a scale to measure affect, behaviour and cognition. RESULTS: The attitudes were found to be positive in all three scales. While the behaviour scale significantly discriminated donors from non-donors, no significant differences were observed in the affect and cognition scales. CONCLUSION: In a medically-oriented population, donors and non-donors do not differ significantly in their sentiments towards blood donation. Other social variables may account for donor behaviour which need to be studied further.