Views and attitudes towards blood donation: a qualitative investigation of Indian non-donors living in England

Objective: To explore the views and attitudes of Indians living in England on blood donation.

Background: In light of the predicted shortages in blood supply, it is vital to consider ways in which to maximise donation rates. These include addressing the issue of lower donation rates among ethnic minorities, including Indians. However research specifically among minority ethnicities in UK is sparse.

Setting: General practice in North London.

Participants: A convenience sample of 12 non-donor Indians living in England.

Methods: This is a qualitative investigation involving semistructured interviews. Themes derived were analysed using thematic framework analysis.

Results: Five key themes emerged from the data, and these concerned participants' perspectives regarding attitudes towards blood, blood donation as a 'good thing', donation disincentives, the recipient matters and the donor matters.

Conclusion: A variety of attitudes were presented, but were generally positive, and blood was conceptualised in a manner previously found to be consistent with donation. However, lack of awareness and accessibility were prominent barriers, indicating the need for improvement in these capacities. In contrast to this, blood was also greatly associated with family and acted as a symbol of kinship: this 'emotional charge' often acted to dissuade participants from separating with their blood through donation. Possibly due to this, there was also a strong preference for donated blood to be distributed within the family, as opposed to strangers. This presents a potential barrier to blood donation for some Indians within the current system in which donations are given to unknown recipients.