Jennifer M. Kowalsky

Education in donation coping strategies encourages individuals to give blood: further evaluation of a donor recruitment brochure.

BACKGROUND: This study extends our prior assessment of a blood donation recruitment brochure by assessing persistence of observed changes in attitudes toward donation as well as the effects that such changes have on the behavior of registering to give blood.

Enhancing blood donation intentions using multimedia donor education materials

BACKGROUND: Prior research has shown that education materials that directly address prospective donor concerns and provide specific coping suggestions are particularly effective at enhancing donation attitudes and intentions to give blood. This study compared the effect of donor coping materials, provided in written and audiovisual formats, as potential tools to enhance recruitment of prospective blood donors. The role of initial attitudes toward blood donation on responses to these materials was also considered.

Assessment of donor fear enhances prediction of presyncopal symptoms among volunteer blood donors.

BACKGROUND: Fear is an important contributor to the risk of presyncopal reactions to blood donation. However, concern that asking donors about their fears may increase the risk of reactions is a potential impediment to incorporating fear assessment into donor screening.

A Web‐based approach to blood donor preparation

BACKGROUND: Written and video approaches to donor education have been shown to enhance donation attitudes and intentions to give blood, particularly when the information provides specific coping suggestions for donation‐related concerns. This study extends this work by comparing Web‐based approaches to donor preparation among donors and nondonors.

Development of common metrics for donation attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and intention for the blood donation context.

The Theory of Planned Behavior has been widely used in blood donation research, but the lack of uniform, psychometrically sound measures makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions or compare results across studies. Accordingly, the goal of this study was to develop such measures of donation attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and intention.

Effect of applied muscle tension on cerebral oxygenation in female blood donors

BACKGROUND: Applied muscle tension (AMT), which involves rhythmic tensing of the muscles of the core and lower extremities, has been associated with attenuation of presyncopal reactions among whole blood donors. This study was designed to examine whether the salutary effects of AMT may be mediated by increases in cerebral oxygenation during blood donation.

“The Sound of Fear”: Assessing vocal fundamental frequency as a physiological indicator of social anxiety disorder

The relationship between vocal pitch and social anxiety disorder (SAD) has been examined with encouraging initial results, highlighting increased fundamental frequency (F0) as a physiological indicator of SAD. The present series of studies examined the relationship between F0 emitted during social threat and SAD symptoms. Two independent samples of SAD patients, and a sample of demographically-equivalent non-socially anxious controls (NSACs), completed varying social threat tasks which involved speech. Mean F0 emitted throughout the tasks was examined. Male SAD patients emitted greater F0 in comparison to NSACs across studies. For females, this relationship was significant only when examined in patients with SAD of the generalized subtype, and in response to in vivo social exposures. Furthermore, gender-specific thresholds for overall F0 emitted during social threat were identified which demonstrated excellent differentiation between patients with generalized SAD and NSACs. These results provide additional support for increased F0 as a physiological indicator of SAD.

The Blood Donor Identity Survey: a multidimensional measure of blood donor motivations

Evidence indicates that donor identity is an important predictor of donation behavior; however, prior studies have relied on diverse, unidimensional measures with limited psychometric support. The goals of this study were to examine the application of self‐determination theory to blood donor motivations and to develop and validate a related multidimensional measure of donor identity.

Blood donation fears inventory: development and validation of a measure of fear specific to the blood donation setting

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Although individual differences in fear of stimuli related to blood donation is a key determinant of donor recruitment and retention, a donation-specific fear measure has yet to be developed. MATERIALS AND METHODS A donation-related fear measure was developed and tested on an initial sample of donors and non-donors, and then re-evaluated on a second sample to confirm the observed factor structure. RESULTS Analyses supported a four-factor structure, with subscales related to fear of: (1) syncopal symptoms, (2) blood and needles, (3) social evaluation, and (4) health screen results. CONCLUSION The Blood Donation Fears Inventory is a novel measure to assess fears held by current and potential blood donors.

Associations of postpartum sleep, stress, and depressive symptoms with LPS-stimulated cytokine production among African American and White women

BACKGROUND Postpartum is a period of unique psychosocial stress characterized by sleep disturbance, risk for depressed mood, and heightened parenting stress. However, data on effects of these exposures on inflammatory immune function are limited. METHODS This study examined associations among sleep, psychosocial stress (i.e., parenting stress, general perceived stress), mood (i.e., depressive symptoms), serum cytokine levels, and LPS-stimulated proinflammatory cytokine production among 69 women (32 African American, 37 White) assessed at 7-10weeks postpartum. RESULTS No associations between behavioral measures and serum cytokine levels were observed among women of either race. In African American women, but not Whites, poorer sleep quality, greater parenting stress, and greater depressive symptoms were associated with greater LPS-stimulated IL-6 and IL-8 production (ps≤0.05). Also in African Americans, greater general perceived stress was associated with greater IL-8 production, and greater depressive symptoms with greater stimulated TNF-α production (ps≤0.05). Simple mediation models highlighted the bidirectional relationship between stress and sleep in relation to inflammation among African American women. CONCLUSIONS Significant effects of both stress/distress and poor sleep quality on proinflammatory cytokine production during postpartum were observed uniquely among African American women. These data are consistent with an allostatic load model which predicts that conditions of chronic stress impart vulnerability to dysregulated responses to novel stressor exposures. The bidirectional nature of the stress-sleep relationship has clinical relevance. Studies examining whether interventions focused on one or both of these psychological factors during postpartum is beneficial for inflammatory profiles would be informative. In addition, examination of these models in relation to maternal health at postpartum, including delivery related wounds and other infections, is warranted.