Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal Iran Red Crescent Med J 2012; 14(1):37-40 ©Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal SHORT COMMUNICATION

Background: Donor recruitment and retention are significant problems in blood collection agencies around the world. The Aim of this study was to determine the causes of lack of interest to blood donation in eligible individu-als in Mashhad, Northeast of Iran. Methods: This was a descriptive study. Cases were 1130 non-donor individuals. Participants were selected from eligible individuals in different regions of Mashhad. In this study, surveys included information about age groups, gender, residence area, marriage, education; living situation and job as background variables. Result: Less than 30 % of the cases had enough knowledge about blood donation. There was a significant rela-tionship between location, age, education, occupation and social status with knowledge of blood donation, but there was not a correlation between gender and marital status. Conclusion: There are some factors which affect the decision for blood donation. There is a need to change the negative attitude by increasing the knowledge considering the individual and the social status