Advanced Melanoma Essentials

The background:

People with advanced melanoma typically feel ‘ill-equipped’ and unable to understand and discuss their treatment options, which can have a negative impact on informed, shared decision-making.¹ Traditional methods of communication with patients only provide limited support,² and more innovation is needed to help facilitate remote-based care and education, whilst reducing the amount of time healthcare professionals (HCPs) spend educating patients about diagnosis and treatments.

The challenge:

Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) approached Cognitant to help them develop a comprehensive digital support package for people with advanced melanoma. The aims were to enable people with advanced melanoma to make informed, shared decisions around their care, whilst complementing and increasing the efficiency of face-to-face consultation time with specialist HCPs. The support package would also need to overcome potential health literacy barriers faced by patients.

The solution:

Cognitant ran a series of co-creation workshops involving HCPs and patient advisory groups (PAGs) to develop a curriculum that would suit the needs of patients with advanced melanoma. This included content to promote understanding of metastatic melanoma, what to expect after diagnosis, which specialists they may see, and what treatment options are available.

Cognitant also used these workshops to identify the preferred creative approach to the content, with participants expressing an interest for an online, interactive animated video series to help bring scientific topics to life, with a filmed HCP narrator to provide credibility. The interactivity would allow users to navigate the complex topic at their own pace and digest topics most relevant to them.

In addition to the co-creation approach, there were many stakeholders involved, both internal and external to BMS. By involving appropriate stakeholders from the outset, Cognitant avoided lengthy delays and kept the broader group informed throughout. Regular ‘watch parties’ were held, where HCPs and PAGs were shown the content to gain feedback during production, and to encourage dissemination and usage after launch.

The resulting programme utilises a bespoke interactive video player to ensure video content is seamless and easy to navigate, with helpful prompts along the way. Highly visual content formats are used throughout, with 2D and 3D animation techniques being used in combination to help users digest complex topics.

The results:

At 6 months post-launch:

• >250 patients visited the content at an opportune moment in their diagnosis and treatment journey
• average engagement time per visit was >7 minutes, well above industry standard
• an average of >3 pages were visited per session, demonstrating the breadth of content being viewed
• patients reporting that they understood advanced melanoma “quite well” to “very well” increased by 15%
• >80% of users said they enjoyed the video content, demonstrating strong user satisfaction

This innovative, digital support package showcases effective collaboration between clinical centres, PAGs, HCPs, the NHS and pharma in order to provide a resource that reaches patients at the point in their journey when they need support the most.

Since delivery of this project, BMS commissioned Cognitant to expand the digital support package into new areas, broadening and enhancing the support provided to patients. Guided by further co-creation workshops, prehabilitation was a key topic identified for inclusion.

Testimonial:

“I have found the Advanced Melanoma Patient Support Hub absolutely invaluable. In my opinion, and more importantly from patient feedback, the first time a patient comes to see an oncologist can be completely overwhelming… Being able to give them access to the patient support hub has made such a difference to my practice… I simply don’t know what I would do without this resource now and neither do my patients. It is a real credit that the time and effort has been put aside to create such a wonderful resource!”

Dr Ricky Frazer, Medical Oncologist

References

1. Melanoma UK. Melanoma patients matter report, 2021. Available at https://www.melanomauk.org.uk/melanoma-patients-matter-report. Accessed October 2023
2. Farnsworth M. Differences in perceived difficulty in print and online patient education materials. Perm J 2014;18(4):45-50