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How CAN-EMPOWER was designed

CAN-EMPOWER has been designed with people with experience of cancer, healthcare professionals and researchers at the Centre for Psychosocial Research in Cancer (CentRIC), University of Southampton. The project was funded by Macmillan Cancer Support through a grant from Boehringer Ingelheim.

The project used a ‘Person Based Approach’1 to ensure people were fully engaged in its design, resulting in a product that is easy to use. The website draws on approaches from ‘Acceptance and Commitment Therapy’ (ACT)2 to help people self-manage psychological and emotional problems related to living with cancer. ACT helps people live in the here and now, focusing on values and goals important to them.

The project involved two phases:

  • Phase I used data from published papers, questionnaires and workshops with patients, carers and healthcare professionals to identify what the website should include and look like.
  • Phase II created and refined a prototype website, using feedback from interviews to improve the resource. The following diagram summarises the process: click on any section to find out more.
Thriving
  1. Yardley L, Morrison L, Bradbury K, Muller I. The Person-Based Approach to Intervention Development: Application to Digital Health-Related Behavior Change Interventions. J Med Internet Res 2015;17(1):e30.
  2. Hulbert-Williams NJ, Storey L, Wilson KG. Psychological interventions for patients with cancer: psychological flexibility and the potential utility of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Eur J Cancer Care (Engl). 2015;24(1):15-27. doi: 10.1111/ecc.12223.
Published data Survey data Development Group 1 Theory of Changel Workshops Guiding principles Development Group 2 Prototype 1 'Think Aloud' interviews Development Group 3 Prototype 2 Home Testing Prototype 3 Development Group 4 Completion of website