Isaac Tseng (Interaction Design & Co-leader)
Claire Li (Interaction Design & Co-leader)
Taiga Haruyama (Interaction Design)
Jacqueline Huo (Interaction Design)
Anna Bojolyan (Graphic Design)
Bob Guo (Product Design)
Devin Jiang (Product Design)
Project is currently on-going with Isaac Tseng and Tatiana Khoury as selected designers for the Cedars-Sinai Fellowship program.
Success Metrics:
- 10% increase in overall Lung Cancer Screening Rates compared to rates prior to campaign and mobile unit adoption.
- Real-life adoption and launch of campaign in 2025.
Future Steps:
- Development of stronger social media strategy and presence.
Lung Cancer Screening:
There are many barriers acting against potential patients along the user journey, including social, economic, cultural, and language barriers unique to underserved communities.
Research Guiding Objectives:
- To understand the mechanisms behind communication between healthcare provider and patient, such as trust, language, and literacy.
- To explore how recent technological changes in care for healthcare providers might provide new opportunities for messaging.
- To understand what the Lung Cancer Screening process entails, including various statistics, risk factors & eligibility requirements.
- To understand the barriers and pain points experienced by Underserved Communities in Los Angeles with regards to Lung Cancer Screening.
- To develop a strong advocacy campaign informed by research to increase Lung Cancer Screening rates and health literacy.
The service blueprint below describes the current pathway that a potential patient typically goes through for Lung Cancer Screening. A common problem is that due to numerous points of friction, patient drop off is very frequent and many people do not see the Lung Cancer Screening process through. Another important note is that this process also occurs yearly, a fact that many people also tend to forget. There therefore are many opportunities for design intervention where the campaign and mobile unit can help increase retention rates and therefore screening rates.
User Behavior:
- Smokers are proportionally more represented in the lower socio-economic strata of society, leading to higher occurrences of lung cancer.
- Inaccurate description of personal health history due to lack of trust, language barriers, fear of judgement, taboo topic, or lack of memory.
- Not visiting Primary Care Physician (PCP) regularly due to cultural upbringing, monetary concerns, geospatial concerns, or past trauma.
- No follow up after initial diagnosis due to viewing a negative prognosis as an unchangeable circumstance. This is caused by fatalistic beliefs from various cultural or religious backgrounds.
Patient Pain Points:
- Lack of health literacy, limited time, poor informatics, fatalistic perceptions, fears of the unknown and distrust in the US healthcare system lead to difficulties in shared process decision making.
- Language barriers for ESL patients
- Patient misunderstanding about insurance coverage and financial concerns.
- These various barriers lead to overall lack in knowledge about lung cancer and also low uptake in lung cancer screening.
Healthcare Provider Pain Points:
- There is a high rate of patient drop off along the lung cancer screening process due to various barriers.
- Low healthcare literacy among underserved populations is one of the top barriers acting against successful completion of lung cancer screenings.
- Patient retention is difficult as many do not know lung cancer screening is a yearly procedure.
Needs:
- Cedars-Sinai needs to increase geospatial and demographic reach of the Mobile Detection Unit and increasing screening rates.
- Doctors need increased healthcare literacy among general public and establishing better communication with patients, as well as greater retention rates in the lung cancer screening process.
- Potential Lung Cancer Patients need accessible lung cancer screening and healthcare insurance information, as well as a way to bridge language gap.
Goals
- Healthcare providers will have an increase in Lung Cancer Screenings and be able to better provide patients with the care they need.
- Patients will establish better trust in healthcare providers and feel less in the dark; feel more competent.
- Patients will also gain an increase in comprehension about their insurance coverage and what Lung Cancer Screening is.
Potential Strategies:
Education - Increasing Healthcare Literacy
- Education boosting activities as well as periodic health checks were the most effective at curbing tobacco use according to research. Increasing healthcare literacy must remain an essential goal in our campaign concept.
Tapping into Family and Community
- Family and community is a commonly held value among many non-native groups living in the United States. These include but are not limited to Hispanic, Asian American, African American, and Black Caribbean populations located in lower socio-economic areas of Los Angeles. Maintaining family narrative is therefore an important aspect to the campaign.
To create a comprehensive community-based campaign and brand identity for California’s first lung cancer screening van, to be rolled out in Los Angeles and Orange Counties in 2025.
The aim is to raise overall Lung Cancer Screening Rates by at least 10%, and also build a higher patient retention rate with yearly screenings.
Target Audience:
- SoCal residents who have a history of smoking at least 20 packs a year and are between 50-80 years old (Qualification to get a Lung Cancer Screening according to USPSTF.
- Belong to underserved communities, specifically Latinx, African American, LGBTQ+ and Korean populations.
Key importance when forming user archetypes:
- Finding trends beyond demographics, finding commonalities shared across traditional groupings.
The detailed case study description can be found by clicking this link.
The Campaign: Screening Heroes
Screening Heroes is a campaign focused on uplifting the voices of experienced community members and healthcare providers in lung cancer screening, to encourage conversation, destigmatization, and increased screening rates within these communities. Screening Heroes are your health advocates, your friend who you knew went through screening, your healthcare providers, to your pastor to whom you find community and strength in.
Anyone can become a Screening Hero. There is no small role, anything from a simple testimonial about their past experience with lung cancer screening to active health advocacy is equally impactful. Our objective is to highlight positive role models in normalizing conversation about lung cancer screening, raising public health literacy, and increasing screening rates.
Community Heroes
Spiritual Leader (Religion / Belief)
- The community leader respected by many, dedicated to uplifting people through faith, spirituality and support. This Screening Hero plays an important role in encouraging those who feel vulnerable and need strength.
Peers (Same aged friends)
- The friend, the peer, the neighbor, the everyday community member. This Screening Hero normalizes lung cancer screening through shared experiences and word-of-mouth. This is the everyday voice.
Family Member (Biological & Found)
- The people at home who provide emotional support, encouragement, and solace. This Screening Hero advocates for the patient’s health and play a foundational role in long term emotional support.
Healthcare Heroes
Informative Doctor (PCP / Radiologist)
- The subject matter expert on lung cancer screening. This Screening Hero provides education and transparency about the lung cancer screening the process.
Attentive Caregiver (Nurse / Technologists)
- The navigator and caregiver in lung cancer screening. This Screening Hero provides comforting support inside a healthcare sphere and answers more emotional needs.
