FAMS students’ sociodemographic characteristics
The sample’s sociodemographic characteristics, including age, gender, nationality, marital status, program, and year of study, were evaluated. A total of 350 students participated in the study and answered the questionnaire; the mean age of the respondents was 224, and 345 (98.5%) of the students were Saudi Arabian. Among them, 144 (41.1%) were men and 206 (58.9%) women. Of the 350 students, 286 (81.7%) were single, 48 (13.7%) were married, 15 (4.3%) were engaged, and 1 (0.3%) was widowed. Of the 350 participants, 179 (51.1%) were MLT students, 53 (15.1%) were physiotherapy students, 55 (15.7%) were clinical nutrition students, and 63 (18.0%) were radiology students (Table 1).
FAMS students’ blood donation history
The results showed that 93 (26.5%) of the FAMS students had a prior experience of blood donation, while 257 (73.4%) of the students had never donated blood. Of those who had previously donated blood, 58 (16.6%) were MLT students, 29 (8.3%) were in the fourth year, and 61(17.4%) were male. The results indicate statistical differences between the FAMS students’ gender, program, and year of study, and their history of blood donation.
FAMS students’ attitude toward blood donation
Table 2 indicated that almost the majority, 341 (97.4%), of the FAMS students had good attitude towards blood donation and thought that blood donation is important to patients. MLT, physiotherapy, and radiology students shown to have a better level of attitude when compared to clinical nutrition students. However, there was no statistical differences between FAMS students believe and sociodemographic factors.
FAMS students’ level of knowledge about blood donation
The results describe the level of knowledge that FAMS students have about blood donation in comparison to the sociodemographic variables, including age, gender, program, study year, and nationality (Table 3). Generally, the majority (86.9%) of the FAMS students in all departments had a good level of knowledge about donating blood and blood transfusions; only 13.1% had a poor level of knowledge about donating blood. As illustrated in Table 4, the highest level of knowledge about blood donation was reported among FAMS students with an average age of 212; the average age of the FAMS students with a poor level of knowledge was 234.
In this study, females had a higher level of knowledge about blood donations than males. The data in Table 3 shows that 32.6% of the male FAMS students and 54.3% of the female FAMS students had a good level of knowledge about blood donations, while only 13.2% of the students of both genders had a poor level of knowledge. Furthermore, 85.4% of the Saudi FAMS students and 1.4% of the non-Saudi FAMS students had a good level of knowledge about blood donations; in comparison, 46% of the Saudi FAMS students and 0% of the non-Saudi FAMS students had a poor level of knowledge about blood donations.
The study year was found to be statistically significantly associated with knowledge about blood donation (p<0.005). As seen in Table 3, the knowledge level (good) about blood donation was higher among FAMS students with the following study years: second (19.7%), third r (23.1%), fourth (26.9%), MSc (9.7%), and internship (7.4%) years. In comparison, the knowledge level about blood donation was poor among FAMS students in the second (8%), third (2.6%), fourth (1.7%), MSc (0.3%), and internship (0.6%) years. This study also found that the majority of the FAMS students (73.4%) had never donated blood and only 26.5% had donated blood. Moreover, of the FAMS students with a good level of knowledge about blood donation, 25.1% had donated blood and 61.7% had not. In comparison, of the FAMS students who had a low level of knowledge about donating blood, 1.4% had donated blood and 11.7% had not.
FAMS students’ positive attitudes toward blood donation
As shown in Table 4, 20.3% of the FAMS students strongly agreed, 19.7% agreed, 27.7% somewhat agreed, 15.7% neither agreed nor disagreed, 6.9% somewhat disagreed, 4.6% disagreed, and 5.1% strongly disagreed with the statement: “Blood donation is a religious duty.” Moreover, 98 (28%) students strongly agreed and 79 (22.6%) agreed that giving gifts and money to donors could increase the number of blood donations. A total of 163 (46.6%) FAMS students strongly agreed that increasing the number of blood centers could increase the number of blood donations. Over half of the students (68.6%) strongly agreed that increasing blood donation awareness could also increase the number of blood donations. Only 187 (53.4%) of the 350 FAMS students strongly agreed that cell phone applications for a blood donor could increase the number of blood donations.
FAMS students’ negative attitudes toward blood donation
Of the 350 FAMS students, 73.4% had never donated blood. Table 6 indicates the reasons for the shortage of blood donors among FAMS students. Generally, a lack of awareness about the importance of blood donation was the most prevalent reason among non-donors, and this survey showed that the reasons for the shortage of blood donors among FAMS students included the fear of needles and beliefs that blood donations cause anemia and can transmit diseases.
As shown in Table 5, 15.1% of the FAMS students strongly agreed that blood donations cause anemia, although 5.7% of them strongly disagreed with that statement. Furthermore, of the 350 FAMS students, 15.4% strongly agreed, 21.4% agreed, 22% somewhat agreed, 19.4% neither agree nor disagreed, 10.9% somewhat disagreed, 4% disagreed, and 6.9% strongly disagreed with the statement: “Blood donations can transmit diseases”. About 80.8% of the FAMS students believed that the reason for the shortage of blood donors is due to their fear of needles, while 7.4% of the students did not hold that belief. However, 18.6%, 19.4%, and 11.8% of the FAMS students neither agreed nor disagreed (neutral) about the reason for the shortage of blood donors due to beliefs that blood donations cause anemia, beliefs that blood donations can transmit diseases, or the fear of needles, respectively.