Health Problem:
People with Cystic Fibrosis need to navigate 3 major life transitions all at the same time: transitioning their care team, transitioning into adulthood, and taking on the responsibility for their daily treatments.
Situation: In 2017, due to incredible advancements in medicine, Cystic Fibrosis moved from being a pediatric condition to lifelong condition as people began to life well into their 60s and 70s. This created new challenges for the community, because people with CF now needed to learn how to navigate 3 major life transitions at the same time:
Taking responsibility for managing their 4-hour daily care regimen
Navigating the emotional and physical changes associated with the transition to becoming an adult
Transitioning to an adult care center from a pediatric care center.
While working with clients dedicated to helping the CF community, I decided to write my masters thesis on this topic using a process called Intervention Mapping; a 6-step program design framework that uses behavioral science and rigorous research to build the content, methods, implementation plan, and evaluation plan to solve any health problem.
Task: The task was obvious - provide CF patients with a mentorship program. A major barrier to this program was the fact that CF patients cannot be in the same room as another CF patient due to the risk of cross-infection. While the simple answer was Zoom, Facetime, or other virtual means, there was a prevailing sentiment among the community that these tools just didn’t provide them the same level of emotional connection they felt they needed in discussing some of the more challenging topics a high-schooler might need to discuss.
Action: After 8 months of work, I had developed 4 customer journeys, multiple rounds of qualitative and quantitative research, and written a 114-page paper outlining all of the content, methods, programs, initiatives, and services needed to help CF patients navigate these crucial transition periods. At this time, Virtual Reality was just beginning to take center stage, and every company was looking for a way to try to use it. To solve the challenge of human connection, I spoke to Oculus, Magic Leap, and Microsoft to get pricing information for this program. I built a full budget and commercial model for how this could be a sustainable, viable program.
The Result:
1. Identified a use case for VR that was about necessary innovation, not novelty innovation.
2. Brought awareness to the challenges face the CF Community.
3. Drove engagement strategy across all touch points in patient support program.