Cancer Companion
Cancer Companion is a community-focused app that connects cancer patients with resources, cancer patients, and survivors who have lived through the exact diagnosis and can help guide them through this challenging time.
Goal: Reduce anxiety in recently diagnosed cancer patients by introducing them to resources and people who can help them process their diagnosis.
When patients receive a cancer diagnosis, they can have a variety of responses, like shock or sadness. Depending on the condition and other factors, the patient is likely to go through multiple emotions, including anxiety and fear. Unexpectedness, lack of knowledge on the disorder, learning of long-term outcomes, and many other challenges can impact patients and their fear or anxiety surrounding new health diagnosis information. Knowing that patients are susceptible to this sheds light on their subsequent actions, such as not wanting to engage with medical professionals and seeking information on search engines instead. These options can make patients more fearful and overwhelmed, thus impacting how they process their diagnosis. To address the patient's anxiety and fear, this project aims to create a space where patients can process their diagnoses with the help of resources, tips, and other patients who have lived through the exact diagnosis and can help guide them through this challenging time.
Timeline
February - May 2022
Team
Yan Zhang
Kat Brinley
Stephanie Cyrill
Yu-Hsuan Liu
Divya Mirchandani
My Contributions
Interviewing
Wireframing
Implemented interview learnings into final design
Tools Used
Figma
FigJam
Microsoft Excel
User Interviews
To gain a better understanding of the diagnosis delivery process, we interviewed three healthcare professionals (HCPs) and four cancer survivors.
Though our app's target was cancer patients, we interviewed HCPs as well to include any insights they might have gained based on their experience with diagnosis delivery. In addition to this, they provided recommendations on what to include and anything that would help make this design sensitive and successful.
Affinity Mapping
We organized all our learnings on an affinity map to group themes that emerged during interviews.
Interview Learnings
Based on our interviews with HCPs, we learned:
- Prefer to tell the patient their diagnosis as soon as possible and in-person if the situation permits
- Try to make sure the patient is not alone when they receive the news
- Recommend that someone close to the patient is present with them when they receive the diagnosis
- Try to give the patient space to process the diagnosis before giving them the next steps
- Try their best to give the patient a clear picture of their current situation
Based on our interviews with cancer survivors, we learned that patients would have preferred:
- The doctor stayed to talk them through their diagnosis in understandable terms
- Having space to process their diagnosis before discussing logistics, such as insurance
- More privacy and information on their diagnosis
Competitive Analysis
Before moving forward, we conducted a competitive analysis against apps and websites that offer similar services to what CCompanion would offer its users.
Based on this, we decided that the CCompanion app would:
Provide one-on-one interaction with peers
Give the option to choose peers based on preferences
Separate information from social interaction
Cater information based on the diagnosis
Wireframes
We built out 24 screens that we envisioned users encountering when they used the app.
Within it, we included screens for signing up for the app, breathing exercises, selecting their stage of cancer, documenting their journey, note-taking tools, resources, patient dashboard, appointment calendar, chat, and videos.
Feature Selection & Decisions
Breathing Exercises: We decided to include this after the patient has signed up into the app to help alleviate anxiety they might be facing upon receiving their diagnosis. As they may not have had time to process or may experience their thoughts racing, so this feature was designed and implemented to help calm them and ease them into the app.
Cancer Stage Selection/Journey Documentation: We implemented this as both a visual and an identifier, so that the patient can select where they are at in their cancer journey and so that we can know what resources would be most useful to them
Patient Dashboard: The dashboard serves as the central information hub of the app. Here, users can access different app features, including: calendar, chat center, coping videos, diagnosis resources, and their diagnosis report.
Calendar: we implemented this feature so patients could see their upcoming and past appointments, along with the appointment details. Included in this section, the patient can also set reminders so that they don’t miss an appointment.
Chat Center: This provides a safe space where users can talk to survivors or other people who are also battling cancer to gain insights and garner a sense of community with one another.
Coping Videos/Diagnosis Resources: In a world where people are bombarded with an onslaught of information, our app focuses on providing verified information from reputable sources that could boost user knowledge on their diagnosis.
Note-Taking: this is a running feature that is available for the user to access at any point in the app. The purpose of this feature is to give user the ability to take notes on things they may read or what they hear from appointments.
Final Prototype
Check out full prototype here!
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