Awareness of and attitude towards blood donation in students at the Semnan University of Medical Sciences

BACKGROUNDDespite the increasing demands for blood and its products, some people, especially the youth, have little interest in donating blood. OBJECTIVEThis study aimed to assess the university students' awareness of and attitude towards blood donation. METHODSIn this cross-sectional study, a descriptive analytical approach was used to examine awareness of and attitude towards blood donation among students in Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran. The study was performed in 2015-2016. A total of 749 university students participated in this study. A special questionnaire was used to collect demographic information and the participants' awareness of and attitude towards blood donation. Before beginning the main phase of the study, the reliability and validity of the questionnaire were examined and verified. The SPSS software, version 16, was used for statistical analysis. We used descriptive statistics, specifically chi-square and Friedman tests, to analyze the data. A p-value of