Abstract
To examine the perceptions and experiences of Chinese university students blood donors. A semi-structured, face-to-face interview was conducted with 19 university students blood donors and an inductive thematic analysis was performed to analyze the interview. Five themes were generated from data analysis, that is, participants’ attitudes toward blood donation, donation disincentives, ways of improving donation rate, participants’ feelings and perceptions at different stages of the donation, and the influence of traditional Chinese culture on blood donation. Although participants have positive attitude toward blood donation, many of them have relatively little knowledge concerning blood donation or the donation system in China. It also found that cultural beliefs played a two-sided role in blood donation. On the one hand, some principles in traditional Chinese culture may have a negative influence on blood donation; on the other hand, doctrines of benevolence and Love in Confucius philosophy worked as an incentive to blood donation among university students. Thus, it would be necessary to take effective measures to make more university students access to the knowledge of blood donation. Community approaches such as stakeholder management and peer education conducted by student voluntary blood donors might be of great help to achieve a higher donation rate, which could be beneficial to the development of voluntary blood donation in China.
Keywords
Recently, China is suffering from a severe shortage of blood supply due to the increasing demand for donated blood and the low donation rate.
The research findings in this study could enhance donation awareness among Chinese university students, which may increase the number of donors among them. The strengths of this paper lie in the analysis of factors negatively influencing blood donation, particularly Theme Five: the cultural factors. These factors could also influence people of Chinese heritage who emigrate to other countries, and be of particular relevance where there is a need for donations of blood and tissues for those of Chinese ethnicity, for example, genetic disorders or blood matching.
We should take effective measures to improve university students’ knowledge about blood donation. Community approaches such as stakeholder management and peer education conducted by student voluntary blood donors might be of great help to achieve a higher donation rate, which could be beneficial to the development of voluntary blood donation in China.
Introduction
Voluntary blood donation is a kind of noble action that could save lives. To cope with the outbreak of HIV epidemic caused by commercial blood collection in the mainland of China (Adams et al., 2009; Hong et al., 2012), Chinese government enacted Blood Donation Law in October, 1998, stipulating that healthy citizens between 18 and 55 years could donate blood voluntarily. Since then, all of the clinical blood supply was provided by donated blood. Among them, it is estimated that about 85% is from voluntary donation and the rest is mainly from Mutual Aid Blood Donation (J. Liang et al., 2017).
Mutual Aid Blood Donation, a system designed to ensure the requirements for clinical emergency blood use, encourages and motivates patients’ family, relatives, friends, and work colleagues to donate blood as a kind of mutual assistance. This system, which had been a supplementary of voluntary blood donation in China, was abolished in 2018 because of the side effects brought by it, such as the illegal blood trade and the potential of AIDS epidemic (Volkow & del Rio, 2005; Zhao et al., 2018). Since then, it is stipulated that all the clinical blood supply should be from voluntary blood donation in China.
Although through the persistent efforts in the past decades, China has entered a new phase in blood safety and availability (Liu et al., 2010), there still exist some problems and, among them, the shortage of blood supply is considered the most serious one (Yin et al., 2015). Recently, China is suffering from a severe shortage of blood supply (R. Xue et al., 2016) due to the increasing demand for donated blood and the low donation rate. It has been reported that the blood donation rate in China is only 0.91% (X. Liang et al., 2012), which is much lower than the average rate (4.5%) in the developed countries (WHO, 2017) and is even under the warning line (1%) recommended by WHO (World Health Organization).
Blood donation is a complex issue that may be influenced by many factors, such as personal outlook toward blood donation, perceived social pressure to give blood, the capacity to donate and the positive/negative experiences of the donation as well as the social norms and cultural factors concerning blood or blood donation (Bednall et al., 2013; France et al., 2008; Joshi & Meakin, 2017).
Previous studies pointed out that traditional Chinese culture has a great impact on people’s attitudes toward blood donation and it would act as a barrier to blood donation in China (Tison et al., 2007; Y. Xue, 2007). For instance, according to Chinese traditional concept of health preserving, blood mainly comes from the essence of food and is of vital importance for human body. It believes that blood donation is a sudden loss of blood which will be harmful to the health. Thus, the misconceptions regarding blood or blood donation originated from the traditional culture may act as a great barrier toward blood donation in China. It is a similar case in some countries with similarly low blood donation rates (<1%). For instance, in Sudan, cultural perceptions have been reported to have an influence on barring its citizens, especially women, from donating blood (Mohammed & Osman, 2016).
In the past decade, university students have constituted the largest portion of blood donors in China (Tan et al., 2020; Xu, 2019). Therefore, their views and attitudes toward blood donation will affect the development of the donation system. A number of previous studies concerning blood donation in China mainly employed quantitative research methods to investigate Chinese people’s knowledge, attitude, and behavior toward blood donation (Erwin et al., 2009; Hu et al., 2019; Wang, 2019; Zaller et al., 2005). Despite the contributions these quantitative studies may have made, they tend to be macro in nature and may fail to capture the deep and detailed information concerning these people’s lived experiences (Zou et al., 2018). Thus, to examine their perceptions and explore the lived experiences more thoroughly and in greater detail, it is necessary to conduct qualitative research which takes an in-depth approach to the phenomenon it studies.
In this study, using the method of inductive thematic analysis, we aim to examine the perceptions and experiences of Chinese university students blood donors. The research findings in this study could enhance donation awareness among Chinese university students, which may increase the number of donors among them.
Methods
Using the method of inductive thematic analysis (Taylor & Doolittle, 2020; Vanderhaeghen et al., 2020; Wu et al., 2021), this study aims to examine the experiences and perceptions of university students concerning blood donation. A face-to-face semi-structured interview was conducted among 19 participants in a Chinese university from May to July, 2020. Five themes have been generated after analyzing the collected data.
Participant Recruitment
Convenience sampling was carried out on a university campus, which is located in a main urban area of the mainland of China. All the potential participants were previously unknown to the researchers. Participants were included as blood donors if they had donated blood during their academic years in the university, and those who had not donated blood were excluded. In total, 19 participants were recruited between May and July, 2020. The socio-demographic factors of the participants are given in Table 1. The aims of the study were explained to the participants prior to the interviews. All of the 19 participants have the ability to read and speak Chinese fluently and are able to complete the semi-structured interviews.
Socio-Demographic Factors of Participants.
Recruitment was carried out alongside data collection. Data analysis was simultaneously ongoing during data collection, data saturation occurred when no newer themes or information emerged. Six students who met the participant criteria were approached, but they showed no interest in the study and refused to participate. Selection procedures for this study see Figure 1.
Flowchart of participants selection.
Data Collection
Prior to the interview, all participants signed the informed consent form declaring that the interview was only used for research purposes. Participation was voluntary and anonymous, that is, no identifying data such as name and index number were collected for the sake of confidentiality. A semi-structured interview guideline (Table 2) was designed after conducting literature review concerning blood donation in China and in the world. Based on the guideline, the interview questions were developed, focusing mainly on reasons for donating blood, thoughts and feelings before and after blood donation, source of knowledge about blood donation, approaches to increasing donation rate, barriers to blood donation, and the influence of traditional culture on giving blood. A total number of 19 face-to-face semi-structured interviews were carried out from May to July, 2020. The principal researcher conducted the interviews. All the interviews were audio-recorded and each one lasted 20 to 40 min, depending on how much knowledge the participants had about blood donation and what kind of attitudes they held toward it.
Interview Guideline.
Data Analysis
After data collection, the interview recordings were transcribed verbatim by the first author of this study. To ensure the accuracy in data transcription, the other two researchers compared the transcripts with the original audio files. The method of inductive thematic analysis was used and the following steps were taken to analyze the data.
First, transcripts were examined independently by all the researchers to capture all the utterances of the interviewed participants. Second, after identifying interview segments related to the purpose of this study, the three researchers coded the transcripts separately. Finally, the first two authors worked together to determine and confirm the representation and trustworthiness of the identified themes and sub-themes concerning the experiences and attitudes of participants toward blood donation. When there was a disagreement, they would resort to and discuss with the third author until a consensus was reached. In addition, the participants were invited to review the transcripts and the themes identified.
Furthermore, several steps were taken to ensure that the conceptual meaning of the interviewed participants was fully captured in the English translation of their quotations. Before translating the Chinese transcripts into English, all researchers discussed and made an agreement on the translation protocol and standard. Then, the two researchers translated the interviews respectively. After that, the researchers compared all the translated versions and made a consensus on the English transcripts. Finally, one researcher translated the English transcripts back into Chinese to re-check accuracy of the translation. In the following, all the themes and subthemes will be presented and discussed in detail.
Results
All 19 university students donors who agreed to participate in the study completed the interview. Five themes and fourteen subthemes (Table 3) of these students donors’ experiences and attitudes toward blood donation were derived from the interviews.
Core Themes and Subthemes.
Theme 1: Reasons to Donate Blood
This theme addresses the reasons why these university students donated blood and their views on blood donation.
Sub1 Blood Donation as a Good Thing
This subtheme describes the positive attitude of participants toward blood donation and explores the reasons why they have donated blood.
Benefits to the Donor
All participants stated that blood donation could benefit the donors not only mentally, but also physically. Some participants even believe that blood donation is a symbol of maturity, showing that they have the ability to help others or can contribute to the society as grown-ups do.
Blood donation makes me feel good, you know, it means that I am brave, healthy and have the ability to help others like a grown-up…it makes me feel good…you can’t imagine how such an easy and effortless thing can bring you the sense of pride and satisfaction…blood donation is not harmful at all, instead it is good to your health. It can increase my metabolic capacity, help in creating more new blood and make me fit.—P3 female
Some donors further mentioned that blood donation not only benefited the donors themselves, but could also benefit their family members. According to the Blood Donation Law of China, the donors and their immediate family members can enjoy free blood should they need blood transfusion in the future.
Benefits to the Recipient
There was the belief that blood donation can help others and even can save their lives. Blood donation is regarded as a good deed and a noble charity that should be given without money.
Through the internet, I learned that China is suffering from a great shortage of blood supply…. Some patients, they need blood transfusion to save their lives, or else, they would die…. blood is renewable, I donate it to the people in need, and my blood may save their lives.—P11: male
Benefits to the Society
Some participants reported that they donated blood due to social conscience and they believed that blood donation could contribute to the development of the society, especially the development of the spiritual civilization in China.
Everyone has the obligation to do some contribution to our country…to promote the positive energy in the society. We should do something to our society even it is only a small thing, just like blood donation.—P10: male
Sub 2 Altruistic Motivation
University students are a group of young people who are most likely to help others in our society. Their willingness to help others is another motivation for blood donation.
I would like to do as much voluntary work as possible, which is the main reason why I donated blood.—P1: female
Sub 3 Peer Effect
Peer effect or bandwagon effect is a common factor underlying blood donation among university students. Nine of the participants reported that they were influenced by their classmates or friends in blood donation.
It is a good thing and many of my peers do that, so I also want to have a try…I did my first donation under the encouragement of my roommate. We went to the blood caravan together…. I would probably not have donated without her accompany and encouragement.—P18: female
On the other hand, one participant (P2) indicated that peer effect could also prevent blood donation. Some students had planned to donate blood. However, when he/she realized that he/she was the only one in the class or in the dorm who was going to donate, he/she would probably change the mind.
Theme 2: Disincentives to Blood Donation
This theme explores the possible factors that prevent university students from donating blood based on either their own experiences or something they have heard of.
Sub1 Lack of Accessibility
Lack of accessibility is regarded as a great obstacle in blood donation, including lack of knowledge where to donate and inconvenience of time available for the donation. Lack of knowledge where to donate is one of the disincentive factors to blood donation.
Most university students confine their lives to the campus and they don’t know much about things outside the campus. For instance, those who have the desire to donate are inclined to do it on campus when the blood donation caravans visit the university, generally twice a year. Most of them never think of going to the blood donation station nor do they know where these stations are.—P7: male
Some participants point out that the impropriate time of visiting may prevent them from donating blood.
The blood donation caravan visits our campus twice a year, in June and December respectively. However, it is really not an appropriate time. Because, we are busy preparing for the National English Proficiency Test in June and we have the annual physical test in December. It is improper to donate blood before or after such severe exercises.—P6: male
Sub2 Lack of Knowledge of Blood Donation
Some participants stated that the lack of knowledge of blood donation is a factor that could prevent them from donating blood. Most participants said that they did not know much about the donation process before their donation and they argued that the lack of knowledge of blood donation may prevent them from donating.
As I know, many university students know nothing about blood donation process and it is an obstacle to blood donation. Even those who are willing to donate don’t know much about donation either. Taking me as an example, before my blood donation, I had little knowledge about the donation process or our donation system until the volunteers gave me a flyer about blood donation. From the flyer, I got some knowledge about blood donation.—P15: female
Sub 3 Lack of Trust on the Donation System
Their lack of knowledge of blood donation is worsened by the frequent negative reports about the system or the participants’ negative experiences. For instance, they did not receive free blood when they needed it. Either of them would lead to the distrust of the system.
I saw from the internet that they, I mean some work staff of blood station, dumped the blood people donated. It is reported the blood expired because of the inefficient working system. It was just dumped like that…what a great waste. It makes me feel disappointed.—P19: male We know that according to the blood donation law of China, the donors or their immediate family members can have a free blood transfusion should they need it. However, last year, my father had an operation and needed blood transfusion; the hospital charged us as if I never donated blood. I feel bad about that, and I won’t donate blood again.—P 9: female
In the same way, some participants were unwilling to donate blood for the second time because they thought they did not get an appropriate reward from their blood donation, either spiritually or economically.
We know that the donation is voluntary and we also understand that blood donation should be non-remunerated; however, we still think that we deserve some reward. In reality, it seems that our university does not care whether we donate or not…. A reward system is needed. It is not necessarily some material reward. I think most of us prefer something spiritual.—P13: female
Theme 3: Ways to Improve Blood Donation Rate
This theme explores useful ways to improve donation rate from donors’ perspective, which include providing more access to blood donation, perfecting the donation system and making the use of peer effect or idol effect.
Sub1 Providing More Access to Blood Donation
In this study, lack of accessibility is considered by most participants as a barrier to blood donation. Thus, it is suggested that increased access to blood donation should be provided, including increasing the number of blood caravans on the campus and adjusting their time of visits according to the students’ time schedule.
Blood stations should have effective communication with the school authority so that they can visit the campus at a proper time… try to avoid clash with the students’ timetable…. Don’t visit when the students are busy preparing for exams.—P4: female
Sub 2 Perfecting the Donation System
Most participants stated that the blood donation system needs perfecting to fit development of the digital age. They suggested that the blood donation station should construct some online platform that could help to realize blood donation appointment and provide feedback service.
In addition, a reasonable reward is necessary to improve donation rate. All of the participants agreed that although people should not be financially incentivized to donate blood, a reasonable reward for their altruistic act is necessary.
A reasonable reward is necessary. Of course, I did not mean financial incentives. I prefer some spiritual rewards such as a letter of commendation, a few gifts or souvenirs, like logo T-shirts, bags or towels.—P17: male
Sub 3 Increasing the Publicity of Blood Donation on Campus
To make more students have a better understanding of blood donation, donation promotion and advertising is necessary.
More donation promotion and advertising on campus is needed. The donation promotion and advertising could make more students have a good understanding of blood donation.—P11: male
More than half of the participants indicated that given the fact that most young people adore pop stars and idol effect could play a great role in improving blood donation rate. Thus, pop stars should take the initiative to donate blood.
If pop stars could take the lead in donating blood, I believe more and more students will follow their idols’ action to donate blood.—P1: female
Theme 4: Different Feelings at Different Donation Stages
The participants reported that their feelings toward blood donation were different at different stages of the donation. This theme addresses how they feel before, during and after the blood donation.
Sub 1 Feelings Before Blood Donation
Most donors expressed that when they decided to donate, they felt excited, curious and in the meantime a little worried.
Excitement and Curiousness
A few donors reported that before the donation, they felt excited because it was the first time for them to donate and they were curious about what would happen in the caravan.
When I donated for the first time, I felt very curious about the donation. Because, at least to me, the blood caravan was very mysterious….it was very exciting when I realized that I was going to experience it.—P3: female
Worry
In the meantime, they expressed that they were a little worried because they did not know the process of donation and also had concerns of hygiene.
To tell you the truth, before my donation, I felt a little worried about at least two things, first, I thought that there might be some hygienic problems with the blood collectors; on the other hand, I did not know how long would the process take….I also worried about the possible side effects, such as being weak and dizzy.—P11: male
Sub 2 Feelings During the Blood Donation
In the interview of the present study, the participants shared their feelings during the process of donating.
More Fear than Pain
Most of them admitted that it was a little painful but the pain was almost gone after the piercing. It was more fear than pain.
I have to say it is only mild pain, just like a regular injection. But when I saw the needle stab into my skin, I felt a little uncomfortable and nervous.—P2: male
Feeling Valued and Loved
Despite the fear, some participants reported that they enjoyed the process because they felt valued and loved during the process of donation.
The nurse was very considerate and kind to me. I think she must have noticed my fear and she asked me to close my eyes when she was piercing…. She kept encouraging and consoling me during the process…. I felt loved and respected. It made me feel that I was not giving love but receiving love…. it is great.—P4: female
Sub 3 Feelings After Blood Donation
Satisfied and Proud
All the participants stated that they had a sense of satisfaction and pride after the donation. Most of them showed that they would do it again next time.
Before the donation, I was very nervous because I think it might cause a great pain. The process took about 3 minutes and it did not that hurt and I had a feeling of satisfaction after the donation, because I overcame my fear and I was brave.—P18: female
Some participants said that their knowledge about blood donation was increased after the donation.
Before the donation, I was a little feared because I thought the donation process would be long. Actually, it only took about 2-3 minutes. After the donation, I did feel a little bit weak and dizzy but I recovered very soon. Through the donation, I had more knowledge about the donation process. A few days after my donation, I got a message from the blood donation center, informing me that my donated blood had passed the test and was ready to be put into use. I think it is considerate of them to send me that message. I never knew that blood donation involved such kind of feedback procedure until I got the message.—P11: male
Theme 5: The Influence of Traditional Chinese Culture on Blood Donation
China is a country with 5,000 years of history. The tradition Chinese culture has a great impact on people’s attitudes toward blood donation. This theme explores how the traditional culture affects blood donation.
Sub 1 Traditional Chinese Culture as a Barrier to Blood Donation
Many participants acknowledged that there were some beliefs and cultural taboos in traditional Chinese culture acting as barriers to donating blood. For instance, Confucianism holds that our body, including blood, skin or even hair, is granted by our parents, which should not be damaged. We should love and protect our body just as we love and respect our parents. Thus, those who do any damage to their own body are considered as impiety to their parents (Chen, 2011). One of the participants reported that it could be a disincentive for blood donation.
Before we made our decision to donate, most of us would ask for the permission from our parents. If they showed disagreement, we probably won’t donate. On this matter, we should obey our parents because it is they who give us life.—P16: male
This disincentive factor is intensified when it is combined with some misconceptions of blood donation due to the influence of traditional Chinese culture. In the traditional culture, it is commonly believed that blood donation will lead to loss of vitality and reduce immunity. Vitality, which is called yuanqi in Chinese, is a concept in traditional Chinese culture.
I think that although most university students, of course, me included, don’t believe in this doctrine, because we are educated people, we know that the loss of vitality thing doesn’t make sense. However, it can still prevent some of us from donating because you know, most parents believe that giving blood would hurt the vital energy and thus they probably won’t allow their children to donate.—P14: male
Sub2 Traditional Chinese Culture as Incentives to Blood Donation
Although several participants believed that some beliefs in traditional Chinese culture could prevent blood donation, they acknowledged that some principles in traditional Chinese culture such as Ren (benevolence) and love (Huang, 2009) could provide impetus for blood donation. Many participants argued that good merits in traditional Chinese culture could encourage them to do good deeds such as blood donation. Traditional Chinese culture emphasizes that people should love, help and care about each other. Confucius (551−479 BC), father of traditional Chinese culture, took Ren (benevolence) as the core of Confucian doctrines. In The Analects, he claimed “those who are ready to help others are benevolent and holy.” Later, Mozi (468−376 BC), a great thinker in ancient China, further pinpointed that helping others and contributing to the society is of the greatest significance and should be considered the most benevolent. These morals and ethics provide the impetus for blood donation.
Traditional Chinese culture advocates for caring about others. I think we should try to help others, especially those who are in need…. Our ancestors proclaimed that we must do good deeds rather than evil ones. In my opinion, traditional Chinese culture supports blood donation.—P1: female
Discussion
This study examined the experiences and perceptions of Chinese university students blood donors. In line with the numerous previous studies on volunteer blood donors in various countries (Bednall et al., 2013; Joshi & Meakin, 2017; Mohammed & Osman, 2016), participants in our study have positive attitude toward blood donation and most of them donated blood out of their willingness to help others. Most of the participants held that their donation experiences were positive and they would like to donate blood again in the future.
However, several donors had relatively little knowledge about blood donation. Among them, two participants claimed that they almost knew nothing about blood donation before their first donation and it was curiosity and encouragement of their peers that brought them to their first blood donation. Four participants reported that it was during the process of their first donation when they gained some knowledge about blood donation. Consistent with similar surveys in the world (Mohammed & Osman, 2016; Sabu et al., 2011), our finding showed that many a university student lack knowledge concerning blood donation. According to some previous studies, although knowledge does not necessarily correlate with the practice of blood donation (Mohammed & Osman, 2016; Zito et al., 2012), this research does suggest that there is a need for disseminating information about blood donation among Chinese university students.
Similar to reasons stated in prior studies (Erwin et al., 2009; Joshi & Meakin, 2017; Zaller et al., 2005), most participants in this research donated blood for humane reasons. They believed that blood donation is a good thing for both recipients and donors. However, it is worth mentioning that in addition to negative motivators identified in prior studies, such as lack of knowledge or lack of accessibility, negative experiences due to the imperfect donation system worked as one of the disincentives to blood donation among the students blood donors. For instance, according to the Blood Donation Law of China, the donors and their immediate family members can receive blood for free should they need blood transfusion in the future. However, one participant (P9) stated that although she showed her blood donation certificate to the hospital, they were still charged when her father needed blood transfusion. The negative experience, together with some negative reports concerning blood donation, led to her distrust on the blood donation system, which eventually prevented her from donating again in the future. In this sense, it is necessary to perfect the present donation system and enhance its supervisory mechanisms, trying to make it more transparent and effective.
In the present study, the participants stated that peer effect plays an important role in improving donation rate. In China, an old saying goes, one who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and one who stays near ink gets stained black. It means that one would take the behavior of one’s company. This is particularly true for young people who are the most susceptible to their idol’s actions (Mohammed & Osman, 2016; Zito et al., 2012).
It is important to highlight that the traditional Chinese culture plays an essential role in blood donation. Previous studies showed that traditional Chinese beliefs on detrimental effects brought by blood loss made blood donation in China particularly difficult (Tison et al., 2007; Y. Xue, 2007). Different from the previous studies, in the present study, we found that traditional Chinese culture could act as both barriers and incentives. On the one hand, cultural beliefs such as filial piety and Yuanqi (Vital energy) theory may prevent some university students from donating. It is in line with the previous studies concerning influences of traditional Chinese culture on blood donation (Hong et al., 2012; Tison et al., 2007). On the other hand, different from previous studies, we further found out that principles of Ren (benevolence) and Love in Confucian philosophy may act as incentives which motivated the students to give their blood. Thus, it is vital that policy-makers should be aware of the two-sided influence of traditional Chinese culture and make the donation system conform to Chinese sociocultural factors.
The strengths of this paper lie in the analysis of factors negatively influencing blood donation, particularly Theme Five: the cultural factors. These factors could also influence people of Chinese heritage who emigrate to other countries, and could be of particular relevance where there is a need for donations of blood and tissues for those of Chinese ethnicity, for example, genetic disorders or blood matching. However, there were also some limitations. The interviews could be influenced by recall bias or selection bias because of the refusal to participate. Moreover, the research was conducted among students donors in one university and the findings might not be extrapolated to other populations or settings.
Conclusion
In this study, we employed the method of inductive thematic analysis to explore the experiences and perceptions of Chinese university students toward blood donation. In this qualitative study, we identified five themes concerning blood donation, which were participants’ attitudes toward blood donation, donation disincentives, ways of improving donation rate, participants’ feelings and perceptions before and after their donation and influence of traditional Chinese culture on blood donation. It found that their willingness to help others is an important factor that motivate them to donate blood; positive experience of the donation will probably motivate them to donate blood again in the future; while the lack of access to blood donation, together with the negative influence of some beliefs in traditional Chinese culture may prevent them from donating blood. Thus, it would be necessary to make Chinese university students have more access to blood donation. We should take effective measures to improve their knowledge about blood donation. Community approaches (Campbell, 2003) such as stakeholder management and peer education conducted by students blood donors might be of great help to achieve a higher donation rate, which could be beneficial to the development of voluntary blood donation in China.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
We express our gratitude to the participants who would like to participate in our research. In addition, we show appreciation to Miss Zhang Xiaoning for her help in revising the manuscript.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
This research was funded by Qingdao Agricultural University Talents Foundation (No. 663/1120706), Qingdao Agricultural University Moral Education Program (No. QNSZ2021044) and Shandong Social Science Planning Fund Program (No. 21CYYJ08).
