Time To Screen
National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme Redesign
In New Zealand bowel cancer is the second biggest cancer death contributor in New Zealand (The mission of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). Surprisingly New Zealand has been one of the sole countries in the OECD to have not implemented a bowel screening program until this year. They first ran a pilot programme which was seen to be successful and then the National Bowel Screening Program started rolling out in 2018. However, the Pilot only had a participation rate of around 56.8% (Ministry of Health). This needs to be changed.
Our main goal is to motivate people to change their attitudes, open up, and take action. Firstly we have focused on redesigning the kit. There were a lot of pain points found when testing this out for ourselves. We aimed to make it more user-friendly, functional, compact and inviting to therefore hopefully increase the participation rates. Secondly, we gathered that there is a lack of knowledge and awareness around bowel cancer and the screening process. We believe raising awareness and reducing the stigma of bowel cancer in New Zealand will increase participation rates. This will ultimately reach our end goal of motivating people and encouraging them to open up. People need to be connected and supported by others around them to participate, we believe this can happen through the use of a motion graphic advertised on television and social media, therefore hopefully raise participation rates.
The new packaging has been designed to provide an initial incentive to open the contents. We have used a box structure for the mail-out to emphasise the importance of participating in the screening program as well as to flatten out the envelope for the mail sorting machines. We have printed all the vital information; including the test instructions and checklist, onto the box itself to reduce the amount of loose paper in the package.
An informational motion graphic is used to raise awareness around the risks of bowel cancer and the hope of catching bowel cancer at an early stage. Using the interactive features of social media, people can help friends and family connect, encourage and create awareness to help raise participation rates and reduce the stigma.
This was a Massey University group project by:
Laura Harkness, Huey Yi Lim, Caitlyn Jones, Annalise Spragg, Melissa Pfeffer
