March 4, 2022 Dataset Open Access

Veseli, Besarta; Sandner, Sabrina; Studte, Sinika; Clement, Michel

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{"DOI":"10.25592/uhhfdm.10088","abstract":"<p>During a crisis, society calls for individuals to take prosocial actions that promote crisis management. Indeed, individuals show higher willingness to help after a disaster. However, the COVID-19 pandemic presents significant differences as it is an ongoing crisis that affects all individuals and has the potential to pose a direct health threat to anyone. Therefore, we propose that the pandemic may also negatively affect willingness to help, specifically blood donation intentions. It requires a high level of willingness to donate blood beyond the crisis outbreak, as more blood will be needed when postponed surgeries resume. When comparing blood donation intentions from a pre-pandemic study to results from a six-wave (bi-weekly) panel study conducted in Germany during the first pandemic phase (April to June 2020), we find lower medium and long-term blood donation intentions. While active donors show increased awareness of ability and eligibility to donate at the beginning of the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic, they feel significantly less able to donate as the pandemic progresses. Furthermore, inactive donors&rsquo; perceived ability to donate significantly decreases in the pandemic phase compared to the pre-pandemic phase. Crucially, both active and inactive donors feel less responsible and less morally obliged to donate, resulting in an overall negative pandemic effect on blood donation intentions. The COVID-19 pandemic compromises blood donations endangering the life-saving blood supply. These alarming results offer evidence-based grounds for practical implications for driving donations in the event of a pandemic.</p>","author":[{"family":"Veseli, Besarta"},{"family":"Sandner, Sabrina"},{"family":"Studte, Sinika"},{"family":"Clement, Michel"}],"id":"10088","issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,4]]},"title":"The impact of COVID-19 on blood donations","type":"dataset","version":"1"}