You can

This was my final project for my master’s degree in which I got to design my own service.

How Might We provide children affected by cancer with age-appropriate information, supportive resources, and a sense of control, while easing the communication burden on parents?

This was a group project in which I completed the following:

• Desk-based research

• First-hand research - public surveys, interviews with experts, interviews with people impacted by cancer

• Persona creation

• User journey mapping

• Empathy mapping

• Ideation

• Wireframes

• Figma prototyping

• Mock-ups and imagery

• The presentation

• Animation

1. Discover - After extensive desk-based and firsthand research, I discovered that families impacted by cancer face multiple issues along their cancer journey and require a solution to make this experience a little easier.

2. Define - Based on the research, I summarised my research into one main problem statement to help define what I needed to solve:

   Children affected by cancer often lack age-appropriate information and resources to help them understand their illness. Parents may avoid difficult conversations for fear of upsetting their child, leaving young people uncertain and anxious. This loss of control, combined with limited support and strained healthcare services, means many children and their families face cancer without the compassion, guidance, and tools they need to cope.

   I created personas, user journey maps, empathy maps, and explored stakeholders. The key stakeholders were the parents/guardians and children affected by cancer.

3. Develop - I completed brainstorming sessions, mind-mapping, crazy eights, feasibility graphs and idea venn diagrams.

4. Deliver - I created mock-ups for how this service could look and be implemented in hospitals. I created a prototype and tested it on users.

For a more in-depth look at the process, please take a nosy at my Notion.

The solution to the problem is a new app called 'You Can', 'You Can take control of your cancer journey'. Every cancer patient's experience with cancer is different; therefore, the app must cater for users of all backgrounds, ages and abilities. The app will feature integrated AI capabilities, allowing users to input information and ask questions while conversing with the chatbot 'Candace'. This will enable the app to learn about the user as they use it, allowing it to provide more personalised support and create or recommend carefully curated information tailored to that individual. For example, if a 12-year-old with severe learning difficulties uses the app, this AI feature will adjust the information to their cognitive level, rather than overwhelming them with information typically suitable for a stereotypical non-neurodivergent child of a similar age.

The solution includes:

• Individual and family calendars, scheduling and reminders for appointments and medications.

• Age-appropriate and truthful information hubs featuring guides, medical word glossaries, prompts for questions and search areas.

• Age-appropriate games to learn about cancer, help with boredom at the hospital, connect with others and have fun.

• Family stories so that users can see other families go through a similar experience and provide hope, advice and comfort.

• A mindfulness hub where the user can take time to reflect, take time to care for their wellbeing and learn relaxation methods during a stressful time.

• A messaging platform to connect users to share advice and experiences, to create a sense of togetherness, community, and so that users do not feel so isolated.

• There is the opportunity to connect with other members of the family through the family network to share events, chat, play games and view moods. The parent or guardian can view their child's searches and mood status to receive recommendations on how to approach specific topics with them in person. A teenage account has the option to make their searches private and not connect with the family network. However, the privacy setting will be overridden if the teenager's searches raise concerns (for example, if they are showing severe signs of depression or self-harm), and the issue will be flagged to an appropriate adult.

• A friendly user interface that feels more fun and welcoming than other medical apps.

• Personal goals and achievement trackers to encourage positivity and motivation.

• A treatment time tracker to keep track of how long your chemotherapy treatment will last.