UX Research | Customer Insights | Strategy
Leveraging AI for Oncology Solutions
My team was hired by a leading pharmaceutical company to explore the ways in which AI's technological potential could be used to create a novel digital product for one of healthcare's most fragile populations: the oncology patient. As the UX Researcher & Strategist on the team, I worked to understand the experiences of the oncology patient, identify ways in which we could leverage AI in our product, and ideate initial product concepts. The project team consisted of myself, a digital strategist, a project manager, a compliance specialist, and a delivery partner.
My role: UX Researcher & Strategist
Tasks: In-depth interviews, secondary research review, persona and journey map development
Note: This project is under a NDA and, as such, I will be discussing high level details that do not disclose the client’s identity or products.
Power in Numbers
4
User Segments
50+
Product Ideas
10
Product Concept Groups
Case Study
Using the design thinking process to ideate and plan research for an innovative AI-based product for a vulnerable and variable patient population
One of my first concerns when starting this project was being able to adequately address the needs of a well-studied and particularly vulnerable patient population. As I explored the existing literature and existing shared 'knowledge' of cancer patients, I took special care to separate out stereotypes and assumptions about their experiences. Patients with cancer encompass a huge variety of individuals and backgrounds and are spread across the diagnostic and treatment spectrum. In order to truly empathize with this patient population, I needed a thorough understanding of their experiences throughout the spectrum of symptom onset through maintenance or palliation of their condition.
A thorough and thoughtful secondary research review leveraged existing knowledge to develop 4 user segments and a comprehensive journey map incorporating all 4 segments within the problem space.
Analysis of the secondary research review led to the creation of 4 key user segments: the oncology patient, the caregiver, the primary health care provider, and the support staff provider. While the oncology patient is the primary user of concern, the other user types weave in and out of the patient's diagnosis and treatment journey and can play pivotal roles in the patient's experience. In order to illustrate these relationships, I created a (generalized) journey map spanning several stages of the oncology patient's experience. The map anchored our team's subsequent discussions of the needs and wants of our patient population, as well as the opportunities for product concepts.
The AI technology landscape holds many product opportunities, as well as many possible pitfalls for our patients.
In addition to exploring the potential users of this product concept, the problem statement necessitated an exploration of AI-driven technology and connected devices. The potential collection of PHI (protected health information) and the sensitive nature of the topic area naturally leads to privacy concerns for product designers and consumers alike. In order to work through these challenges (as well as the huge world of possible AI-driven technologies at our disposal), we developed the "think backward to think forward" approach to product conceptualization. During this process, I worked as an user advocate for our patient population to ensure that the patient and their needs for data privacy, emotional support, social support, and treatment option transparency remained at the center of our work.
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I created a draft user journey map based on the secondary research findings. The journey map helped to center our ideation and follow-up discussions around problem areas in the users' experience.
The research findings guided our team into product conceptualization and ideation activities, ultimately leading to the generation of over 50 unique product ideas and over 10 product concept groupings. As the project moved forward, the team worked to prioritize these product ideas based on business and user needs. A thorough and thoughtful research process was key to identifying the opportunities for several strong product ideas and ensuring the ideas had merit for the end users. Ultimately, the client presented our research findings and ideation results to their business stakeholders and received executive approval to move forward with the project. Since then, the 10 product concepts have been prioritized based on business and user factors, and development on the top concept has begun.
I helped to facilitate group ideation and prioritization sessions oriented around the users' journey.
Leveraging pre-existing research does not eliminate the need for a thoughtful research plan that includes analysis of carefully sourced research findings
To be very honest, this was one of the first occasions on which I conducted UX Research activities that did not involve primary research with the potential users. I wanted to ensure that the research findings and resulting recommendations would be as robust as possible and help to generate new insights for our team (rather than surface-level information that many people may have already encountered). I realized that in order to accomplish these goals, the secondary research review needed to be carried out thoughtfully with trusted resources and required a solid analysis component. While I initially assumed that a review of pre-existing materials would not require further analysis, I learned that it was imperative to critically think about the findings I reviewed in terms of our particular problem statement. Looking at the research with this lens helped me to identify connecting themes that I otherwise would have missed.
A carefully targeted analysis of secondary research sources can be just as important as analyzing primary research results.