(P329) User experience study of a novel blood collection device for remote HIV/STI testing – the Collect2Know device

Background: Currently, the free-fall method is commonly used for home-based blood sampling, which is impractical, unhygienic and the volume/quality of blood is often sub-optimal. Few existing devices integrate puncturing and collection of whole-blood. Also these often fail to collect larger volumes. To address these needs, we are developing a novel integrated easy-to-use blood-collection device to collect minimum 400-1000 µL of whole blood. Here, we present the user experience (UX) results to identify design, functionality, quality and safety issues of the first prototype of the Collect2Know (C2K) device (figure 1).

Methods: In September 2022, four women and six men (5 HIV-PrEP users) were asked to participate in this UX study. A mixed methods research design was used, including a demographic survey, a usability and acceptability survey and a user interview. Participants were asked to use the prototype without help from the researcher while thinking aloud.

Results: Acceptability results show a high willingness to use the device in the future (8/10) and to recommend the device to a family member or friend (7/10). All of the participants experienced none or only mild discomfort while using the device. Main usability issues included: incorrect positioning of finger in the device (4/10), difficulties of using the lancet mechanism (5/10), and confusion about waiting time for sufficient blood collection (7/10). Unsuccessful use was caused by unclear instructions, not reading the instructions and only looking at images, inadequate fixation of the finger in the device and difficulty to assess the volume of collected blood. Six participants were able to collect 400 μL or more.

Conclusion: The results of the first prototype of the C2K device are promising. A next prototype and user instruction version will be developed to tackle the main issues found during this first UX study. Following an iterative process, a final prototype will be developed and tested when a limited number of usability issues are identified and 80% of the participants collect at least 400 µL of blood.