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  Abstract

 Background and Objectives

 Entrance of unaware and high risk donors into blood donation cycle can endanger blood safety. Therefore, the importance of educating blood donors as safe blood resources can be one of the most important goals of any blood service. This study was designed to evaluate the awareness level of Zanjan Universities students about blood donation criteria.

 Materials and Methods

 In this descriptive study, 600 students were selected from Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan University, and Zanjan Azad University by randomized sampling method, and they were then interviewed using especially formatted questionnaires. Data were finally analyzed by SPSS 11.5 and Chi-square test.

 Results

 Out of 600 students, 221 were medical and 379 non-medical students with 63.2% being female and 36.8% male. The age average was 21.43 ± 2.34. Most of the students (83.5%) had never donated blood, 10.3% had donated once, and 6.2% were regular donors. About 30.8% of medical students had a very low level of awareness about blood donation criteria, 28.1% a low level of awareness, 27.6% an intermediate level, and 13.6% a high level of awareness. Out of non-medical students, 35.6% had a very low level of awareness, 37.2% a low level, 21.6% an intermediate level, and 5.5% had a high level of awareness about blood donation criteria. There was not any statistical differences between student level of awareness and demographic findings and education levels.

 Conclusions

 It seems that awareness-raising activities about blood donation is necessary for culture building purposes to be promoted. Inclusion of topics relevant to safe blood donation in school curricula at different educational grades is also highly recommended.

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