How public trust and healthcare quality relate to blood donation behavior: Cross-cultural evidence

Caroline Graf*, Bianca Suanet, Pamala Wiepking, Eva Maria Merz

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Blood donors are indispensable for enabling a myriad of medical procedures and treatments. We examined how public trust in the healthcare system and healthcare quality relate to individuals’ likelihood of donating blood, using survey data from representative samples of 28 European countries (N = 27,868). Our preregistered analyses revealed that country-level public trust, but not healthcare quality, predicted individual propensity to donate blood. Notably, public trust decreased over time in many countries, while healthcare quality increased. Our results highlight the role of subjective perceptions of the healthcare system, rather than the objective state of healthcare, for blood donation behavior in Europe.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3-14
JournalJournal of Health Psychology
Volume29
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No 802227). The work by P.W. at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University, is funded through a donation by the Stead Family, her work at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is funded by the Dutch Charity Lotteries. None of the funding sources played a role in the study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation, in the written report, or the decision to submit the article for publication.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.

Keywords

  • blood donation
  • cross-cultural evidence
  • healthcare quality
  • public trust

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