CEBRE : Communicating the External Beam Radiation Experience

The goal of this project was to develop a patient communication piece that better explains the radiation treatment process, as well as to lower the overall level of anxiety that patients may experience before, during, and after treatment.

DESIGN RESEARCH   +   ANALYSIS   +   SYNTHESIS   +   PROTOTYPING   +   PRODUCTION

Problem Space

Patient education materials get stacked and ‘never looked at again.’ They are text-heavy and often written in a technical, 12th-grade reading level. External Beam Radiation can be an effective way of treating cancer, however, patients are often left overwhelmed and confused by all the available information out there.    

Research

We conducted secondary as well as primary research that included clinic visits and patient interviews, in order to better understand the patient journey throughout the radiation treatment process.

Insights Generation

After documenting the treatment process and coding all the interviews, we distilled the information into meaningful categories that drove the content and visual narrative creation. 

Final Prototype

What emerged was a visual discussion guide to be used by doctors/staff with patients, to help them envision what's to come at each stage of their treatment. In addition, the guide provided areas to input custom patient information/data, textually and graphically. 

Currently being tested in the field. 

Institute of Design faculty research project led by professor Tomoko Ichikawa and doctor Dan Golden, Radiation Oncologist, University of Chicago.