Hi, we have been working with many NHS regions in the UK capturing digital patient stories in many different languages.

We have been doing this with www.VOXUR.com - a portable video booth that allows the NHS to set questions in text and video (in any language required) and affords patients the opportunity to record their journeys through the health system.  The NHS is then able to view responses within VOXUR by questions or by individuals and create their own edits to share internally or online as windows media files or podcasts all at a touch of a button.

Please click on the following link to view an example of a breastfeeding diary: http://bit.ly/cLqixN

Hope this proves to be of interest,
mm

Hi, the end goal varies quite a lot depending on the projects. For some projects it is used to gather evidence for the Scottish Government's SORI (Social Return On Investment) initiative - showing the difference a project has made to an individual over a course of a few days, weeks, months or even years.

Other times it is used for market research purposes (to gauge what people think of the Government's new Quality Strategy) or to capture patient journeys - the link below shows examples of all 3 mentioned: http://www.voxur.com/who/health

Although the above example shows an example of breastfeeding diaries, we are also starting to document experiences from those who have been diagnosed with Cancer. Research shows that when an individual is told by their Doctor that they have been diagnosed with cancer they do not listen to everything they have to say as they are too busy worrying about the impact this will have on their life, family, friends, work etc. The journeys show example of neutral, negative and positive outcomes throughout all stages to ensure that the newly diagnosed individuals do not feel alone, it is likely that someone else has been through this before and is able to offer some words of advice.  The more content we have, the more likely the Doctor does not have to say too much when they are first diagnosed, instead they can direct them to the different resources where they will be able to find out more when they are ready to do so (and are likely to take retain far more information).

We recently launched http://www.howtousethenhs.com/ - a web resource informing visitors to Scotland how the health service works, what they are entitled to and how to access it. VOXUR was used at the very early stages of script and storyboard development to capture stories from the target audience in 17 different languages (including sign language). Traditionally people had always been asked about their experience in English, even if this was not their native language.  Since people were able to share their stories in their own time and in their own language (regardless of any reading or writing difficulties) we were able to ensure that we produced the correct scripts from the very outset saving a lot of money when it came to film production process and minimising the amount of changes required once scripts and storyboards were agreed in all languages.

Ultimately there is no right or wrong way to use it, we find that the VOXUR community like the ability to have the flexibility to record, manage and share hundreds/thousands of stories quickly and easily without the need to learn how to use video cameras or editing software - the system enables people who have never used a computer before to learn how to set up questions, record answers, create edits and export them within minutes.

The patients enjoy the fact that they are able to share their stories without the need to write things down online or on paper - they speak 8x quicker than they write and this ensures they are able to tell us exactly what they want without the worry of their handwriting skills or if they have spelled something correctly or not. They also enjoy the fact that there is no external film crew, interviewer, bright lights or huge camera present - and the fact that they are able to tell their story where they want, when they want, how they want results in a far more powerful intimate story with real human emotion that text can only bring if writing in bold or capital letters.

And finally, the Patient Information Forum annual event a few months ago focussed on moving beyond leaflets - VOXUR was used again at this event to explore the challenges currently facing information producers, patients and the public around health information: http://www.pifonline.org.uk/about-pif/pif-events/2010-annual-conference/

The above is only a taster of the work we have been involved with in the Health sector in the UK, we are also widely involved in projects across the Education, Culture and Corporate sectors.

Let me know if you would like to know more.

Kind regards,
mm