Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) Honours

School

School of Psychology and Social Science

Faculty

Faculty of Computing, Health and Science

First Supervisor

Dr Deirde Drake

Second Supervisor

Dr Leesa Costello

Abstract

The demand for blood products in Australia is projected to increase substantially in coming years. Yet population growth and population ageing will present challenges to blood donor recruitment and hence threaten the availability of adequate blood supplies for the future. Improving the retention of blood donors offers an opportunity to leverage this availability of blood products, and a focus on young men can be particularly beneficial because men become the biggest cohort of donors later in life. This research was conducted in collaboration with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. It applied a descriptive phenomenological methodology to explore the factors that motivate young men to repeatedly give blood. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather the motivational experiences of 11 young male blood donors, and their narratives were analysed according to Colaizzi’s (1978) method. The extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) was applied as an organisational framework once the analytic process was complete. Nine themes emerged as elements of motivation for the young men, each of which was subsumed by one of four theoretical constructs: attitude, perceived behavioural control [PBC], satisfaction, and self-identity. Because of the nature of the themes, it was concluded that the identified PBC and satisfaction constructs converged with the extended TPB, and that attitude and self-identity were broader than the theory suggests. Recommendations for future research are provided, and preliminary implications for psychological theory and Blood Service practice are discussed.

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