The Impact of COVID-19 On Blood Donations

During a crisis society calls for individuals to take prosocial actions that promote crisis management. Indeed, individuals show higher willingness to help after a disaster. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, presents significant differences, as it’s a long-term crisis that affects every individual, and poses a direct health threat. Therefore, we propose that the pandemic negatively affects willingness to help, specifically blood donation intentions. It requires a high level of willingness to donate blood beyond the crisis outbreak, as more blood is needed when postponed surgeries resume. When comparing blood donation intentions from a pre-pandemic study to results from a six-wave (bi-weekly) panel study conducted during the first pandemic phase (April to June 2020) in Germany, we find lower blood donation intentions, especially in the medium and long term. While active donors show increased awareness of ability and eligibility to donate at the beginning of the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic, they feel significantly less able to donate as the pandemic progresses. The perceived ability to donate of inactive donors significantly decreases in the pandemic phase compared to the pre-pandemic phase. Crucially, both active and inactive donors feel less responsible and less morally obliged to donate, leading to an overall negative pandemic effect on blood donation intentions. The COVID-19 pandemic compromises blood donations endangering the life-saving blood supply. These alarming results offer evidence-based grounds for practical implications on driving donations in the event of a pandemic.

危机时期，社会呼吁个体采取亲社会行为（prosocial actions）以助力危机管理。事实上，灾难发生后人们的助人意愿通常会增强。然而，新冠疫情呈现出显著差异——它是一场影响每个人的长期危机，且构成直接健康威胁。因此，我们提出假设：疫情会对助人意愿产生负面影响，具体而言是献血意愿（blood donation intentions）。危机爆发后仍需人们保持较高的献血意愿，因为当推迟的手术恢复时，血液需求量会增加。通过对比疫情前研究中的献血意愿数据，与德国疫情第一阶段（2020年4月至6月）开展的六轮（双周一次）追踪研究（panel study）结果，我们发现献血意愿有所降低，尤其是中长期意愿。尽管活跃献血者在疫情初期对献血能力与资格的认知较疫情前有所提升，但随着疫情发展，他们的献血能力感知显著下降。非活跃献血者的献血能力感知在疫情期间较疫情前也显著降低。关键的是，活跃与非活跃献血者的责任感和献血道德义务感均有所减弱，这导致疫情对献血意愿产生了整体负面影响。新冠疫情损害了献血行为，危及救命血源供应。这些令人担忧的结果为疫情期间推动献血的实践策略提供了循证依据。