Abstract

The study investigated attitudes of Akwa Ibom State civil servants towards voluntary blood donations in Uyo LGA, Akwa Ibom State. The objectives focused on the influencers like age, gender, education, salary income level, marital status and perceived barriers on attitude towards voluntary blood donation. It was a cross-sectional survey design, in which 1,200 civil servants aged 18–50 years; were randomly sampled from a cluster sampling of 10 out of 25 available Government Ministries in the State capital, Uyo. A pre-tested, validated, researcher-developed questionnaire was used, and data were analyzed with descriptive, chisquare, and t-test statistics (alpha = .05). A statistical software package was employed. Results showed significant positive influences from age, gender, education, salary income level, and marital status, on attitude; with younger civil servants (18–30 years), males, tertiary-educated participants, salary income level 10 and above earners and married persons exhibiting more favourable attitudes. Perceived barriers (e.g. fear of needles, infection misconceptions) showed a significant negative influence. The study concluded that most socio-demographic factors did influence attitudes to blood donation with no influence from perceived barriers. Recommendations include establishment of blood donation clubs at schools, gender-sensitive interventions to engage women and deployment of mobile blood units to reach civil servants across that State.