OBJECTIVES: To qualitatively evaluate participants’ experience using a provisioned device (PD) versus their smartphone (‘bring your own device’; BYOD) to complete PRO measures.

METHODS: Participants with COPD recruited for this observational, cross-over study completed daily (EXAcerbations of Chronic pulmonary disease Tool [EXACT^®]) and weekly (COPD Assessment Test [CAT]) PRO measures on one device (PD or BYOD) for 15 days, then switched to the other device to complete the same measures for another 15 days. After each 15-day period, interviews were conducted to evaluate participants’ experience with each device. Participants rated ‘ease of use’ and ‘overall experience’ on an 11-point scale (higher scores are more positive). At the second interview, participants were asked about their device preferences.

RESULTS: Sixty-four participants were enrolled (mean age [SD]: 59.0 [10.55]; 65.6% female; 51.6% Black/African American). Fifty-seven participants completed both interviews and three completed only one interview. Ease of use and overall experience were rated equally positively across devices (PD mean score: 9.4-9.5; BYOD mean score: 9.5-9.7). Seventeen participants reported being interrupted while entering data on BYOD; only one participant had to consequently restart data entry. Approximately 50% of participants reported missing data entry on at least one day over the 30 days, but there were no unique device reasons for missing data entry. There was no clear preference for either device, with 45.6% (n=26) preferring PD and 50.9% (n=29) preferring BYOD (n=2 had no preference). The most common reason for preferring PD was that it was “dedicated” to the study; the “convenience” of carrying a single device was the main reason for preferring BYOD.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrated that participants’ experience completing the EXACT® and CAT was largely consistent across PD and BYOD with no clear preference between device type. Findings suggest BYOD may be a potential complement to PD for collecting PRO data in COPD studies.