The emotional psychology of blood donors: understanding and using the affective key to donor return (ARC Linkage Project administered by the University of New South Wales) (2015-2019)

Every week in Australia 27,000 blood donations are required to meet medical needs. Though donors are continually recruited, each year around 40% of Australian donors fail to re-donate. Why this occurs and how to prevent this is not well understood. Using an approach grounded in psychology and affective science, this project comprises a program of studies that will advance understanding of the affective factors that contribute to blood donor return and translate that understanding into interventions to increase donor return. The project will advance the psychological conceptualization of blood donation by integrating insight from affective science, while also enabling the Blood Service to meet the nation's demand for blood products.