ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Being notified of a false-positive infectious disease marker result can cause psychological distress in blood donors. A new notification process, informing donors of the possibility of re-entry, was compared with the previous one in which donors were indefinitely deferred to evaluate the mitigating effect on donors' psychological distress levels. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two groups of donors, 'deferred donors' (DD) and 'donors eligible for re-entry' (DER), completed a questionnaire involving 5-point scales. Levels of psychological distress, attitude towards blood donation, desire to donate blood in the future and perception of notification process quality were assessed. RESULTS: Attitudes towards blood donation (P = 0·0276) (DD: 3·94 ± 0·11 vs. DER 4·21 ± 0·09) and perceived quality of communication (P = 0·0108) (DD: 2·72 ± 0·12 vs. DER 3·08 ± 0·10) were significantly improved with the new notification process. No significant difference was found between groups in psychological distress levels or desire to donate blood in the future. CONCLUSION: Informing donors of the possibility of re-entry appears to contribute to maintaining a positive predisposition towards future blood donation. It does not, however, appear to alleviate the distress felt after being notified of a false-positive infectious disease marker result, nor does it increase willingness to give blood again in the future.
