Presenting with Domagoj Bui

Design thinking is widely applied to various areas of practice, including healthcare and clinical research, to engage multiple stakeholders and improve their experience. We investigate participants' experience in observational clinical studies, which are typically difficult to recruit, especially with neurodegenerative diseases. We conducted contextual inquiries and interviews with clinicians and study coordinators at Cincinnati Cohort Biomarker Program to understand the goals, pain points, and motivations of participating patients and caregivers. We found that most participants value their contribution to the program as the best incentive and that monetary incentive is not necessary. On the other hand, they are looking for ways to improve their everyday life. Based on preliminary findings, we created the Biomarker Idea Generation game as a co-creation method to generate concepts for systematic design interventions to encourage patient research participation. The generated ideas were collected and evaluated using a feasibility map. Value and effort are the main parameters in identifying high-value and attainable ideas. The result of this research proposes a new type of hardware touchpoint that provides quick and easy access to clinical information, awareness of research, as well as participation and wellness services. In the paper, we will describe the details of the design process and early feedback about the information navigation, accessibility, and impact of the device as a tangible token symbolizing patient support and connectivity to clinical information and communities. The paper will discuss the implications of design thinking and co-creation activities involving multiple stakeholders to improve patient retention in observational clinical studies.