Practical analysis of the impact of social marketing strategies on attitudes of potential reproductive cell donors in the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

Background/Aim. There is a constant increase in the need to use third-party reproductive cells among couples who are unable to conceive with their own reproductive cells or in order to prevent the passing of an existing hereditary genetic disorder to the child. The aim of the study was to present a theoretical overview and perform a practical analysis of the use of social marketing strategies using the first technique of analyzing the attitudes of potential donors of reproductive cells in the Republic of Serbia (RS) in the interest of adapting to the target group. Methods. Empirical research in this study, in which both women and men from the RS participated, was based on a questionnaire about people’s willingness to be potential reproductive cell donors and about having information on the donation of reproductive cells. The data in this paper were obtained during 2021, and the questionnaire was focused on a particular population group. The questionnaire was sent to people aged 20 to 34 years who could become potential donors of reproductive cells. In the research, 201 women and men from the RS participated. The first part of the questionnaire was tested for internal consistency, which was tested by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient calculation (α). Values of α lower than 0.5 indicate that the questionnaire possesses unacceptable conistency. Results. A total of 57% of participants were in-formed about reproductive cell donation through the Internet, 29% by friends and family, and 11% of them were informed by doctors. Only 32% of participants were fully informed, and 25.1% were partially informed about the donation of reproductive material in the RS. Forty-three percent of participants were not informed about the donation of re-productive material. Most of the participants (54%) said they would maybe donate their reproductive material if they had more information, 20% would donate in any case, and 26% would refuse to donate reproductive material. Conclusion. The target group of potential donors of reproductive cells is present in the RS. In addition to the analysis of attitudes, further planning and implementation measures for the promotion of donation could have an influence on raising awareness about the lack of reproductive material and increase the recruitment of gamete donors.

Keywords

• directed tissue donation
• humans
• reproduction
• serbia
• social marketing