Insights
With the blurring of lines between television, movies, and the web, and advent of enterprises like You Tube and TED, video is becoming the most watched product on the web. The visual format creates a better opportunity to engage patients, even low literacy patients, in an emotional way and hopefully spark positive change.
Problem
The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer is a new organization charged with improving the prevention, outcomes, and quality of life of patients with cancer. A major theme going forward was the recognition of significant opportunity in both supporting psychosocial needs, as well as integrating with the new ways people with cancer manage their lives and put their disease in perspective.
Solution
The HDL produced a unique patient video series of unscripted, open-ended interviews with Canadians who have experienced a cancer diagnosis ranging in age from 20-73. Directed by film maker Wendy Rowland, the interviews asked individuals, “What would you tell your best friend if he or she had to go through the experience you have had with cancer?” The personal stories of almost 40 cancer patients, including young adults, members of First Nations communities, men and women, individuals from both rural and urban regions of Canada and over ten different types of cancer are included in the series. The themes that emerged from these experiences included how patients coped with getting the news, telling friends and family, talking to their kids, returning to work, being their own advocate, the worst aspects of treatment, fear of recurrence, and body image among many other themes. The series will be showcased on Cancer View Canada (www.cancerview.ca) a web-based portal that links Canadians to resources, information and tools to improve cancer control. We hope to imbed the series into the clinic, social media, and surround it with evidence based resources. We will be researching the effectiveness of these integrated campaigns.
