Adapting an Environmental Scan for 'Insights Reporting': Learnings from an Online Brain Cancer Peer Support Platform

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Health Informatics
• User Experience (UX) Design

Background:

• Developing digital health solutions requires timely, accurate contextual information for diverse stakeholders.
• Existing methods may not efficiently integrate literature, user feedback, and technological insights.
• A need exists for a structured approach to synthesize information for digital health development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and describe a novel method called Insights Reporting for digital health solution development.
• To demonstrate the application of Insights Reporting in creating an online brain cancer peer support platform.
• To highlight the benefits of Insights Reporting in informing design and fostering stakeholder collaboration.

Main Methods:

• Adaptation of an environmental scan methodology.
• Integration of codesign principles and multiple layers of qualitative rigor.
• A seven-step process designed for rapid completion (two months).

Main Results:

• Insights Reporting rapidly synthesizes information from literature, end-users, and existing technology.
• The process generated salient knowledge points to inform solution design.
• Facilitated parallel solution development and contextual information synthesis.
• Surfaced previously inaccessible knowledge and catalyzed decision-making.

Conclusions:

• Insights Reporting provides a structured, efficient approach to inform digital health solution development.
• The method promotes a shared understanding of digital health phenomena among stakeholders.
• It supports digital health equity by enabling all stakeholders to influence the report agenda and decision-making.