Background: Blood donation refers to the process of collection, testing, preparing, storing blood, and blood components. The shortage of blood in India is due to an increase in the demand, with fewer voluntary blood donors. A study on the knowledge, attitude, and the practice of the donors may prove to be useful in the successful implementation of the blood donation program.
Objectives: The objectives of the study are to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of blood donation among college students in Puducherry.
Materials and Methods: The study is a cross-sectional study.
Results: All the 136 participants were females studying final year polytechnic. The majority (61%) did not know about the mandatory tests which were done on the donated blood. Only 22% knew that 350 ml of blood can be donated. About 44% respondents opined that creating an opportunity for the donation was an important factor for motivating the blood donation. The majority, 292 (55%), of them felt that the fear of pain was the main reason for not donating blood. Only 28% students mentioned that they had voluntarily donated blood for the first time. 39.7% of participants are willing to become a regular donor in future. Majority (53.6%) of the respondents had a feeling of satisfaction after the blood donation.
Conclusion: A majority of the donors were willing to be regular donors. Creating an opportunity for blood donation by conducting many blood donation camps may increase the voluntary blood donations. The donors showed positive effects like a sense of satisfaction after the donation.
Key words: Blood Donation; College Students; Puducherry; Knowledge; Attitude and Practice
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