Determinants of the intention to donate umbilical cord blood in pregnant women.

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES\nUmbilical cord blood (UCB) donation is a behaviour promoted by many countries health systems. However, UCB donation is not a widespread behaviour among expectant mothers, and little is known about the reasons that may lead to it. The aim of the present study was to analyse the contribution of Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) variables among both primiparous and multiparous women in predicting intention to donate UCB.\n\n\nMATERIALS AND METHODS\nThree hundred seventy-six expectant mothers completed questionnaires that captured sociodemographic data, parity, previous donation, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control (PBC) and intention to donate UCB. Multigroup analysis structural equation modelling was conducted using Mplus (version 8.02).\n\n\nRESULTS\nMultigroup path analyses showed that intentions were strongly predicted by subjective norms and moderately predicted by positive attitudes and PBC in both primiparous and multiparous women. TPB constructs explained 71% of the variance in intentions for both groups.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nFuture interventions to increase intention to donate among primiparous and multiparous women could primarily consider the influence of partner and significant others in determining positive intentions and secondarily target increasing positive attitudes and perceptions of control.