Validating a blood donation awareness tool created using general practitioner and patient acceptability and preferences.

BACKGROUND:There is a need to develop an awareness raising tool for GPs to reach out their patients in order to increase blood donation. The main objective was to create and validate a tool to raise awareness about blood donation that meets acceptability and preference criteria and is applicable in general practice. MATERIAL AND METHODS:This cross-sectional study was conducted in three phases. 1. Tool creation: A stakeholder meeting co-developed three potential tools to raise awareness about blood donation: a consulting room poster, a waiting room poster and a lapel badge for the doctor. Three GPs pilot-tested each tool for one day during their regular consultations. Then, once the pilot was completed each GP assessed acceptability and preference using a semi-structured interview, and patients were also interviewed. 2. Consensual tool selection: An appropriate tool was selected based on pilot data using nominal group technique and expert review. 3. The tool was validated for its acceptability in practice via a quantitative questionnaire distributed electronically to GPs. RESULTS:The consensual tool selected by the nominal group was a combination of elements from all three tools trialled in the pilot, reported to be non-intrusive and convenient for both GPs and patients. Patient responses indicated a high level of acceptability and indicated a strong preference for self-generated discussion of the topic with their GP. In the validation step, 217 responses to the quantitative questionnaire were received: 74.5% of responses fulfilled the acceptability criteria for using this combined tool in general practice. Furthermore, 93.1% of GPs indicated they would use the tool in the proposed format for the purpose of raising awareness. DISCUSSION:The validation of our blood donation awareness tool for use in general practice justifies its evaluation on a larger scale as part of a wider blood donation awareness campaign.