This study examined blood donation barriers via Facebook and Twitter data. A semantic network analysis (SNA) was done with 168,232 Dutch messages from 2012-2018. These are the most important findings:
Donation barriers: Twelve donation barriers were identified. Including lifestyle, donation location, medical reasons, no invitation, opening hours, physical reactions, pregnancy, reimbursement, sexual risk behaviour, time restrictions, travel and waiting times.
Non-donation: Involuntary non-donation (wanting to donate but not being able to) was discussed more often than voluntary non-donation (consciously not wanting to donate).
Associations: Involuntary non-donation was associated with medical reasons and sexual risk behaviour. Voluntary non-donation was associated with dissatisfaction with reimbursement.
Emotions: Anger was strongly associated with sexual risk behaviour, while disappointment was more strongly associated with medical reasons.
Conclusion: Online discussions about blood donation continue to grow. The donation barriers found in this study are different from those found in survey research. This research’s new insights into how donation barriers are communicated in an ever-growing online environment can be used to improve recruitment and retention strategies.
You can read the whole article HERE.
Barriers to blood donation on social media: An analysis of Facebook and Twitter posts. Steven Ramondt, Melissa Zijlstra, Peter Kerkhof, Eva-Maria Merz.
