Sensory Evaluation Center, College of Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
Department of Food Science, College of Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, 220 Food Science Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
Sci Rep. 2021 May 7;11(1):9802. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-89284-3.
Although sensory-guided product design is most traditionally used by food and beverage companies, the approach has widespread application for many other products, including pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Previously, our team used sensory methods to explore preclinical optimization of soft-gel vaginal microbicides. Past clinical trials suggest vaginal microbicides may be an effective means for women to protect themselves from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, but these microbicides will not work if they are not used due to poor acceptability. Our prior work suggests properties like firmness, size, and shape all influence women's willingness to try soft-gel vaginal suppositories. As product insertion is part of the overall experience of using vaginal microbicides, understanding the features of vaginal applicators that appeal to women, and incorporating these insights into vaginal drug delivery systems, may also improve user adherence. Despite widespread use of vaginal applicators, there is minimal public data on women's perceptions of and preferences for physical applicator features. Other work suggests women want vaginal applicators that are single use, pre-filled, made of plastic, and easy to use, store, and discard. Applicator attributes that may be important to women, such as length, color, or visual appeal, have not been investigated previously. The objective of this research was to understand what physical applicator attributes are appealing to women. Here, 18 commercially available applicators were evaluated by a convenience sample of women (n = 102) for overall liking and perceptions of various attributes (perceived length and width, ease-of-grip, expected ease-of-use, expected comfort inside the body, visual appeal, color liking, and environmental friendliness). Preference mapping using both liking data and attribute data showed attributes such as color, visual appeal, ease of grip, expected ease of use, and expected comfort inside the body drove higher liking ratings for applicators, while perceived length negatively affected liking. In general, plastic tampon applicators contained more positive features and were better liked relative to a cardboard tampon applicator or applicators for insertion of medicated gels or suppositories. Incorporating more desirable features into applicators meant for insertion of vaginal microbicides or other vaginal medications may improve the user experience, and possibly user adherence.
尽管感官导向的产品设计最传统上被食品和饮料公司使用，但这种方法在许多其他产品中也有广泛的应用，包括药品和医疗器械。以前，我们的团队使用感官方法来探索软凝胶阴道杀微生物剂的临床前优化。过去的临床试验表明，阴道杀微生物剂可能是女性保护自己免受 HIV 和其他性传播感染的有效手段，但如果由于可接受性差而不使用这些杀微生物剂，它们将不起作用。我们之前的工作表明，硬度、大小和形状等特性都会影响女性尝试软凝胶阴道栓剂的意愿。由于产品插入是使用阴道杀微生物剂的整体体验的一部分，因此了解吸引女性的阴道给药器的特征，并将这些见解纳入阴道药物递送系统中，也可能提高用户的依从性。尽管阴道给药器被广泛使用，但关于女性对物理给药器特征的看法和偏好的公共数据很少。其他研究表明，女性希望阴道给药器是一次性使用、预填充、由塑料制成，并且易于使用、储存和丢弃。以前没有研究过可能对女性很重要的给药器属性，例如长度、颜色或视觉吸引力。这项研究的目的是了解哪些物理给药器属性对女性有吸引力。在这里，18 种市售的给药器由 102 名女性（方便样本）评估了整体喜好以及对各种属性的看法（感知长度和宽度、易于抓握、预期易用性、预期在体内舒适度、视觉吸引力、颜色喜好和环境友好性）。使用喜好数据和属性数据的偏好映射表明，颜色、视觉吸引力、易于抓握、预期易用性和预期在体内舒适度等属性会提高给药器的喜好评分，而感知长度则会降低喜好评分。一般来说，与纸板棉塞给药器或用于插入药物凝胶或栓剂的给药器相比，塑料棉塞给药器包含更多积极的特征，因此更受喜爱。将更理想的特征融入到用于插入阴道杀微生物剂或其他阴道药物的给药器中，可能会改善用户体验，并可能提高用户的依从性。
