Since its launch in 2009, Nova Scotia’s colorectal cancer screening strategy has been a model for other provinces. People aged 50 to 74 who live in Nova Scotia receive a home screening kit every two years, but only about four in 10 people who receive the fecal kits use them and mail them back for further testing.
NSCAD University’s Interdisciplinary Design program instructors John deWolf and Roberta Schultz saw an opportunity for good design to help boost those numbers.
“Designers play an important role in how products and services are used in daily life. We put ourselves through every step of the process and looked at possible obstacles to the typical user, then suggested ways to adjust the design to make the kit even more user-friendly,” deWolf explains.
As part of NSCAD’s Design Studio 3 class, four student groups from the Bachelor of Design evaluated the communications elements of the Colon Cancer Prevention Program’s home screening kit through the eyes of a typical user to identify elements of design, language, and methods of communication that could improve response rates.
The re-design presentation was part of NSCAD’s Design Studio 3 class. Students presented their recommendations to members of the Colon Cancer Prevention team at Volta Labs. Credit: Wiebke Schroeder
Rosemary Peddle is one of the students in the class. She laughs when she describes the first homework assignment.
“We put ourselves through every step of the program and assessed it from the perspective of possible users. We all received our first home screening kit to be completed and found out that was our homework!”
Peddle says immersing herself in the process helped her see some design improvements that could make the experience easier. Plain language, thoughtful copy writing and layout can make instructions and explanations easier and more enjoyable to read.
“I could see how we could chunk information and simplify the descriptions to make it clearer. We could create apps and add to the website to help users better understand what to do and why it’s important. The instructions could be propped up so they could stand up on the bathroom sink.”
deWolf explained that one of the issues is that the paper sits flat on the top of the toilet seat, which can make it difficult to collect the sample.
“One group of students suggested carefully placed perforations, that allows the (stool) sample to slowly sink down and not dip in the water. These kinds of improvements can make a big difference in whether people choose to do the test.”
The students presented their recommendations to members of the Colon Cancer Prevention team as part of a pitch meeting at Volta Labs in early December.
Eileen Kilfoil, manager of Cancer Screening Programs with Nova Scotia Health, says the experience working with NSCAD students has been wonderful and her team will be able to implement some of the recommendations right away.
“I’m grateful for NSCAD’s interest in our program. Our materials have been around for a while so having fresh eyes review them in detail has been very helpful and we’ve been able to use some of the recommendations right away. We’re very proud of the Colon Cancer Prevention Program and are happy that others share our goal of making it even better.”
deWolf and Schultz hope to do more design collaborations in the future.
“It would be great to work on other programs that involve user-centric and systems design,” Schultz explains. “We could address problems such as transit in Halifax, or maybe work alongside the government on other health initiatives.”
deWolf agrees there is always room for improvement, and design plays a critical role in making improvements that can change lives.
“By taking a human-centric look at a process like this we can make the entire experience easier, and that can translate to lower costs, more participation and better results.”
Design students are also using their knowledge to improve the lives of seniors for independent living. Click the button to read more.