Progress Session 1
We had our first progress session this friday and presented our research from this week. We conducted several interviews, read a guide book for cancer patients and their relatives and did a lot of desk based research.
From the book we learned that the problems of cancer patients are very diverse. No situation is comparable to the one before. Some people struggle with hair loss from therapy, where others can cope this more easily. This made us think, what the best way to support affected would be.
A dive into the world of coping
There are several different coping strategies. From talking, therapy sessions, drawing, humor, religion, denial, substance use, distraction, planning, acceptance, etc. Some are more functional, some less. Some work for one, some do not. What they have in common is that they are adaptable to all different kind of situations. But they need to be executed from the affected. We think it would be a great idea to support those in this process.
„How might we create a service that helps cancer affected people* to reflect their emotions, thoughts, fears and needs to support their coping strategies?“
*cancer patients and their close social environment
Our Current Idea
A solution that is already implemented in todays healthcare institution is a patient diary. Especially ICU patients and relatives receive those. It helps patients with memory loss to cope after recovery and relatives in coping the process. It's usages are diverse. Some use it as a notebook to write down medical information they receive from doctors, others write down their feelings and some use it as a communication tool.
Writing or journaling forces us to reflect our thoughts. It makes us aware, whether our mind skips certain logic steps and helps us to conclude more clearly. Because of that, we think an interactive diary could be an ideal tool for people who have to cope a cancer diagnosis. Therefore we will explore deeper in this topic.