The prototypical UK blood donor, homophily and blood donation: Blood donors are like you, not me.
demography
equality
ethnicity
homophily
prototype
social class
Journal
Vox sanguinis
ISSN: 1423-0410
Titre abrégé: Vox Sang
Pays: England
ID NLM: 0413606
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
02 Sep 2024
02 Sep 2024
Historique:
revised:
06
08
2024
received:
07
05
2024
accepted:
09
08
2024
medline:
3
9
2024
pubmed:
3
9
2024
entrez:
2
9
2024
Statut:
aheadofprint
Résumé
Homophily represents the extent to which people feel others are like them and encourages the uptake of activities they feel people like them do. Currently, there are no data on blood donor homophily with respect to (i) people's representation of the average prototypical UK blood donor and (ii) the degree of homophily with this prototype for current donors, non-donors, groups blood services wish to encourage (ethnic minorities), those who are now eligible following policy changes (e.g., men-who-have-sex-with-men: MSM) and recipients. We aim to fill these gaps in knowledge. We surveyed the UK general population MSM, long-term blood recipients, current donors, non-donors and ethnic minorities (n = 785) to assess perceptions of the prototypical donor in terms of ethnicity, age, gender, social class, educational level and political ideology. Homophily was indexed with respect to age, gender and ethnicity. The prototypical UK blood donor is perceived as White, middle-aged, middle-class, college-level educated and left-wing. Current donors and MSM are more homophilous with this prototype, whereas recipients and ethnic minorities have the lowest homophily. Higher levels of homophily are associated with an increased likelihood of committing to donate. The prototype of the UK donor defined this as a White activity. This, in part, may explain why ethnic minorities are less likely to be donors. As well as traditional recruitment strategies, blood services need to consider broader structural changes such as the ethnic diversity of staff and co-designing donor spaces with local communities.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
OBJECTIVE
Homophily represents the extent to which people feel others are like them and encourages the uptake of activities they feel people like them do. Currently, there are no data on blood donor homophily with respect to (i) people's representation of the average prototypical UK blood donor and (ii) the degree of homophily with this prototype for current donors, non-donors, groups blood services wish to encourage (ethnic minorities), those who are now eligible following policy changes (e.g., men-who-have-sex-with-men: MSM) and recipients. We aim to fill these gaps in knowledge.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
METHODS
We surveyed the UK general population MSM, long-term blood recipients, current donors, non-donors and ethnic minorities (n = 785) to assess perceptions of the prototypical donor in terms of ethnicity, age, gender, social class, educational level and political ideology. Homophily was indexed with respect to age, gender and ethnicity.
RESULTS
RESULTS
The prototypical UK blood donor is perceived as White, middle-aged, middle-class, college-level educated and left-wing. Current donors and MSM are more homophilous with this prototype, whereas recipients and ethnic minorities have the lowest homophily. Higher levels of homophily are associated with an increased likelihood of committing to donate.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSIONS
The prototype of the UK donor defined this as a White activity. This, in part, may explain why ethnic minorities are less likely to be donors. As well as traditional recruitment strategies, blood services need to consider broader structural changes such as the ethnic diversity of staff and co-designing donor spaces with local communities.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Subventions
Organisme : Economic and Social Research Council
ID : RA1182
Organisme : NIHR Blood and Transplant Research Unit in Donor Health and Behaviour
ID : NIHR203337
Informations de copyright
© 2024 The Author(s). Vox Sanguinis published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Society of Blood Transfusion.
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