Donating blood is one of the easiest and cheapest forms of altruism possible, so unless you have a pre-existing condition that excludes you from donating, it seems like a no-brainer – which is why around 600,000 Australians do it every year.
However, agreeing to donate can sometimes be only the first hurdle, as UQ School of Psychology’s Associate Professor Barbara Masser discovered in a recent study, the latest in a 15-year collaboration with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service.
A broader perspective on life-giving philanthropy
As a social scientist, Associate Professor Masser brings a unique perspective to the Blood Service’s operations, and is thoroughly embedded in all research that impacts donors, meaning she can link together different campaigns and initiatives and increase the depth of research possible. This offers many benefits for her research and teaching, including access to ‘real world’ settings and participants for studies, and opportunities for her postgraduate students to engage with industry on active projects prior to graduation.
This strong engagement with the not-for-profit sector is also a fantastic platform to further blood donor research studies internationally. As the first social scientist to be elected as an associate scientist on the Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) Collaborative – a major international collaboration involving researchers from all the key global blood agencies – Associate Professor Masser has given multiple presentations at international conferences about research findings and best practice in plasma and blood donor recruitment and retention, to help further the discipline internationally.
So where to from here?
Associate Professor Masser sees the ongoing collaboration with the Blood Service as a valuable platform to collaborate with researchers working in similar environments in other forms of living bodily donation – such as stem cells, eggs, plasma, organs, breast milk and bone marrow, to name a few – to further all fields through sharing research outcomes and knowledge.
“This area represents a true integration of basic and applied science. I deal a lot with blood donors, whom we know are different from people who donate time or money, but my vision is to start the conversation with world-leading researchers in other areas where people donate parts of themselves to improve the lives of others,” Associate Professor Masser says.
“There will obviously be some differences in motivation and approach, but by breaking down our silos and combining resources we could significantly build our collective capacity to uncover some fascinating insights and optimise processes of donor recruitment and retention.”
Progress to date:
2002: Associate Professor Masser’s first collaboration with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service (Blood Service), considering perceptions of donors who receive a Biological False Reactive notification
2003: Science at LunchTime (SALT) presentation at the (then) Blood Services headquarters in Queen Street, Brisbane
2004: ARC Linkage grant funding awarded (with the Blood Service): ‘Recruiting and retaining Australian blood donors: A social-psychological analysis of the role of attitude, identity, and norms’
2006: Internal funding from the Blood Service for ‘Understanding the reactions of blood donors and recipients to an avian influenza pandemic’
2007: Invited presentation at the HAA 2007 Annual Scientific Meeting (joint scientific meeting of the Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand, the Australian and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion and the Australasian Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis)
2009: Following FirstLink funding from UQ, submission of a successful ARC Linkage grant application with the Blood Service, titled: 'The initiation and maintenance of plasma and platelet donation in Australia: An analysis of the role of donor identity and commitment', which led to publications that laid the groundwork for blood collection agencies around the world that were trying to increase the recruitment and retention of voluntary, non-remunerated plasmapheresis donors
2010: Transfusion and Apheresis Science publication with Professor Christopher France of Ohio University, which detailed an initial exploration in Australia as to whether modified blood donation brochures could assist in donor recruitment, as well as internal funding from the Blood Service for ‘Managing vasovagal reactions among young first-time blood donors’, which led to involvement in later research considering facilitating donor compliance with strategies to prevent vasovagal reactions led by A Thijsen (Blood Service) and a 2017 Transfusion paper
2011: Initial exploration of whether blood donation paraphernalia could, in and of itself, provoke anxiety and a lowered intention to donate blood with honours student, Rebekah Clowes
2012: Building on earlier work that explored the impact of modified donor brochures and anxiety provoked by blood donation paraphernalia, Associate Professor Masser awarded internal funding from the Blood Service for ‘Overcoming the impact of situationally induced anxiety’ (with C France and M Hyde)
2013: ARC Linkage grant funding for ‘The emotional psychology of blood donors: understanding and using the affective key to return’
2014: Associate Professor Masser invited by the National Marketing and Community Relations Director at the Blood Service to collaborate on a review of, and research on, the design of the Donor Mobile Units (based on the results of the 2011 situationally induced anxiety project) – the outside design of the Donor Mobile Units was subsequently changed
2014: Plenary address at the 33rd International Congress of the International Society for Blood Transfusion in Seoul, Korea titled 'Plasmapheresis: Recruitment, retention, and the flexible donor'
2015: Associate Professor Masser appointed as a member of the International Society for Blood Transfusion working party on donors and donations, and also appointed as an Associate Scientist to the Biomedical Excellence in Safer Transfusion (BEST) international research collaborative – a unique, freestanding group of approximately 120 manufacturers, clinicians and scientists from 20 countries committed to improving transfusion practice through international studies
2016: Invited to present at the 39th International Congress of the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) in Dubai in September 2016: ‘How can we encourage our voluntary non-remunerated donors to donate more frequently' (with T Davison and C Chapman), and research undertaken with the Blood Service’s marketing division was published in Transfusion: ‘Improving first-time donor attendance rates through the use of enhanced donor preparation materials’
2017: Associate Professor Masser increased from 20 per cent to 50 per cent secondment as a visiting Principal Research Fellow to the Donor Research R&D team at the Blood Service, and invited to speak at the 27th ISBT Regional Conference as well as being appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board for the 3rd European Conference on Donor Health and Management (to be held in Copenhagen in September 2018)
(Photo credits: iStock/Abscent84; Photo credit for opening page: iStock/Bet–Noire; Video credit for opening page: shironosov; Words by: Camille Layt)