Snapshot

COUCH Health partnered with a pharmaceutical company that were initiating a post-marketing clinical trial in atopic dermatitis (eczema) in people from melanated communities. The mid-size biotech wanted to gain insights, understand lived experiences, and anticipate barriers to participating in clinical research from individuals with melanated skin tones with eczema to ensure their study materials resonated with their target audience. COUCH Health gathered insights from focus groups to inform the co-creation of study branding and materials.

Problem

Participation in clinical studies among people from melanated communities is often low due to study materials lacking relevance or cultural sensitivity to their specific needs and perspectives, leading to reluctance to enrol. Critical patient insights are often overlooked or introduced too late in study development, leading to irrelevant branding, imagery, and messaging that may overlook or offend people from melanated communities.

Strategy

COUCH Health conducted a 3 step co-creation strategy to tailor branding and patient-facing materials to individuals with Black and Brown skin tones who have eczema, with the aim of increasing recruitment rates for the clinical study.

1. Conducted an online co-creation focus group with people eligible for the study to gather insights on clinical study perceptions, lived experiences, and feedback on initial branding and material concepts.

2. Coordinated a patient review task on the branding and materials amended following focus group feedback to ensure participants’ insights were correctly understood and suitably translated into design and copy formats.

3. Presented an insights report summarising focus group and review task findings, detailing the rationale for amending imagery, copy, and design and providing suggestions for building trust and sharing information within the community throughout the study recruitment strategy.

Results

Participants were recruited via social media platforms, Instagram, Facebook group posts and LinkedIn. COUCH Health engaged with 6 individuals from the US, 5 African Americans and 1 Asian American. Based on the insight gathered, COUCH Health co-created several patient-facing materials tailored to individuals with Black and Brown skin tones who have eczema and provided recommendations on the following:

Branding

+ Appropriate and representative imagery of a diverse range of people

+ Engaging, informative, and inspiring copy

+ Engaging with a patient’s emotional ‘pain point’

+ Disease-related language used

+ Clear, informative, and inclusive design

Patient recruitment and information sharing

+ Community outreach strategy

+ Maintaining relationships with engaged patient or community groups

+ Who should share the information to reach a diverse range of communities

+ What information should be shared

Building trust with the community

+ Transparency

+ Clear expectations

+ Ongoing communications

After dissemination of the co-created patient‑facing materials during the study recruitment phase:

+ Enrolment was 6 months ahead of schedule

+ 60% of people enrolled on the study were of African descent

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