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. 2010 Apr:2010:173-182.
doi: 10.1145/1753326.1753353.

Catalyzing Social Support for Breast Cancer Patients

Meredith M Skeels  1 , Kenton T Unruh, Christopher Powell, Wanda Pratt
Affiliations

Catalyzing Social Support for Breast Cancer Patients

Meredith M Skeels et al. Proc SIGCHI Conf Hum Factor Comput Syst. 2010 Apr.

Abstract

Social support is a critical, yet underutilized resource when undergoing cancer care. Underutilization occurs in two conditions: (a) when patients fail to seek out information, material assistance, and emotional support from family and friends or (b) when family and friends fail to meet the individualized needs and preferences of patients. Social networks are most effective when kept up to date on the patient's status, yet updating everyone takes effort that patients cannot always put in. To improve this situation, we describe the results of our participatory design activities with breast cancer patients. During this process, we uncovered the information a social network needs to stay informed as well as a host of barriers to social support that technology could help break down. Our resulting prototype, built using Facebook Connect, includes explicit features to reduce these barriers and thus, promote the healthy outcomes associated with strong social support.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
a) Group 1 discussing design ideas b) Group 2 creating paper prototypes c) Participant sharing her design journal
Figure 2
Figure 2
Meeting agenda of activities for two design groups
Figure 3
Figure 3
System for soliciting help from a social network. The process can begin with a suggestion from someone else or be initiated by a patient asking for help.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Design group 1’s list of people who help and people who might receive cancer-related information
Figure 5
Figure 5
Barriers that Inhibit Social Support
Figure 6
Figure 6
Help that would be useful to breast cancer patients Quilt
Figure 6
Figure 6
Help that would be useful to breast cancer patients Quilt
Figure 7
Figure 7
Three interfaces for viewing help requests
Figure 8
Figure 8
Homepage
Figure 9
Figure 9
Requesting Help
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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