TY - JOUR AU - Frye, Victoria AU - Duffy, Louisa AU - France, Janis L AU - Kessler, Debra A AU - Rebosa, Mark AU - Shaz, Beth H AU - Carlson, Bruce W AU - France, Christopher R PY - 2018 DA - 2018/4/23 TI - The Development of a Social Networking–Based Relatedness Intervention Among Young, First-Time Blood Donors: Pilot Study JO - JMIR Public Health Surveill SP - e44 VL - 4 IS - 2 KW - blood donation KW - social media intervention KW - donor identity KW - internal motivation AB - Background: Increasing repeat blood donation behavior is a critical public health goal. According to self-determination theory, the process of developing internal motivation to give blood and an associated self-identity as a blood donor may be promoted by feelings of “relatedness” or a connection to other donors, which may be enhanced through social relations and interactions. Objective: The purpose of this report it to describe the development and pilot testing of a social networking-based (Facebook) intervention condition designed to increase feelings of relatedness via virtual social interaction and support. Methods: To develop the intervention condition content, images, text, polls, and video content were assembled. Ohio University college students (N=127) rated the content (82 images/text) presented by computer in random order using a scale of one to five on various dimensions of relatedness. Mean ratings were calculated and analyses of variance were conducted to assess associations among the dimensions. Based on these results, the relatedness intervention was adapted and evaluated for feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy among 24 first-time donors, aged 18 to 24 years, in a 30-day pilot trial. Paired t-tests were conducted to examine change over time in relatedness and connectedness. Results: The intervention condition that was developed was acceptable and feasible. Results of the uncontrolled, preintervention, and postintervention evaluation revealed that feelings of individual-level relatedness increased significantly after the intervention. Conclusions: By promoting first-time blood donor relatedness, our goal is to enhance internal motivation for donating and the integration of the blood donor identity, thus increasing the likelihood of future repeat donation. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02717338; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02717338 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6ymHRBCwu) SN - 2369-2960 UR - http://publichealth.jmir.org/2018/2/e44/ UR - https://doi.org/10.2196/publichealth.8972 DO - 10.2196/publichealth.8972 ID - info:doi/10.2196/publichealth.8972 ER -