Podcast: Overcoming blood donor anxiety

19 May 2018

Overcoming blood donor anxietyFirst-time blood donors don't always make it from booking an appointment to actually showing up. The drop-out rate is a staggering 18 per cent.

To improve attendance, UQ School of Psychology lecturer Professor Barbara Masser has continued a 15-year collaboration with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service to allay donors' fears and bolster attendance rates.

“It’s kind of a fear of the unknown. They’ve got no idea what goes on inside those blood donor centres – so they’re imagining all these terrible things,” Professor Masser said.

Listen to Professor Masser on the UQ ChangeMakers podcast below, and read more about how her work is getting more first-time donors through the door.


UQ ChangeMakers is a podcast series that tells the stories of some of the most influential members of the UQ community: from incredible discoveries and groundbreaking research to inspiring leadership and innovation.

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