The Quality of Blood Donation Services and Its Association with Blood Donors’ Trust and Loyalty at Makkah Blood Donation Centers in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

The current cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the quality of blood donation services and its association with blood donors’ trust and loyalty at Makkah blood donation centers in Saudi Arabia. A total of 373 healthy blood donors aged ≥18 years who visited blood donation centers in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, between 1st and 28th February 2023 were recruited using a census sampling method. A pre-tested and validated Arabic language questionnaire was employed. The study survey included a checklist of sociodemographic variables (seven items), as well as seven-point Likert-scale questions on the quality of blood donation services (21 items), questions to assess the participant’s level of trust in blood donation centers (4 items), and questions to evaluate the level of loyalty to blood donations (4 items). SPSS (version 24) was used for data analysis. A total of 373 blood donors were included in this study. Of them, 240 (64.3%) were males and 133 (35.7%) were females. The vast majority of the study participants, 330 (88.5%), had a high educational level. The overall average agreement score for the quality of blood donation services was 71.7%. Furthermore, the overall average item agreement score for trust in blood donation centers and places was 83.0%, while the overall average item agreement score for loyalty to blood donation was 72.1%. Moreover, after adjustment for potential confounding factors, high levels of quality in blood donation services were associated with high levels of trust and loyalty among the blood donors (OR: 1.518, CI 95%: 0.321–0.864 and OR: 2.466, CI 95%: 0.285–0.763, respectively) (p-value < 0.05 for all). The overall quality of, trust in, and loyalty to blood donation services were 71.7%, 83.0%, and 72.1%, respectively. In addition, high levels of quality in blood donation services could improve blood donors’ trust and loyalty levels at Makkah blood donation centers in Saudi Arabia.