Blood Donor Competence, Autonomy and Relatedness Enhancement
Condition: Blood Donors
Study type: Interventional
Phase: Phase 3

Summary: 
      The purpose of this study is to determine whether enhancing blood donor competence, autonomy,
      and/or relatedness increases intrinsic motivation to donate and improves donor retention.
    

Detailed description: 
      For health, safety, and economic reasons there is a critical need for novel approaches to
      enhance the retention of new blood donors. The current study examines an innovative,
      theory-driven approach to retention by promoting intrinsic motivation to donate again among
      new blood donors. Self-determination theory (SDT) proposes that people are more likely to
      persist with behaviors that are internally versus externally motivated, and considerable
      research supports the notion that more internalized motivation is associated with better
      adherence in a variety of health contexts. Similar findings have also been reported in the
      blood donation context where measures of the extent to which a donor identity has been
      internalized are positively related to both donation intention and future donation behavior.
      Based on prior work, the investigators propose to test a multi-component intervention
      designed to enhance one, two, or all three of the fundamental human needs that contribute to
      internal motivation according to SDT (i.e., competence, autonomy, relatedness). Using a full
      factorial design, first-time donors will be randomly assigned to a control condition or an
      intervention that addresses one, two, or all three of the fundamental needs. The primary aim
      is to determine whether the intervention conditions, alone and in combination, increase the
      likelihood of a donation attempt in the next year. The second aim is to examine
      intervention-specific increases in competence, autonomy, and relatedness as potential
      mediators of enhanced donor retention. Finally, an exploratory aim will examine an
      integrative model of motivation that views autonomy as a mediating influence on the more
      proximal, situational-level determinants of behavior (i.e., attitude, subjective norm,
      perceived behavioral control, and intention).
    

Intervention name(s): Competence; Autonomy; Relatedness
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Participants will be assigned to review our donor coping website that combines text, videos, and interactive features to directly address common donor fears and to offer advice on empirically-validated strategies to reduce fear, pain, and syncopal reactions.; Participants will be assigned to receive a brief telephone interview that we have developed that encourages blood donors to reflect upon their unique motivations for giving and how the act of donating is consistent with their broader life goals and values.; Participants will be asked to join a closed Facebook group for one month. The group encourages participants to discuss their experiences with blood donation, including such things as posting images of their donations and/or reasons for donating. Posts will be designed to encourage social interaction around donation experiences, identity formation and group affiliation.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Factorial Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: blood donor; retention; motivation; self-determination theory