by Mearns & Pike and Electric Putty for Crohn’s & Colitis UK and Takeda
by Burson Cohn Wolfe for Boehringer Ingelheim
by Edelman for Janssen Oncology
by Syneos Health Communications for Edwards Lifesciences
by Weber Shandwick for Roche
by Weber Shandwick for Roche
Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects 2.3 million people globally,1and impacts people’s cognition, vision and, importantly, mobility.
Maintaining upper limb (hands and arms) function is essential for patients to live an independent lifestyle,2especially those with MS who later in life need to use a wheelchair. However, before being in a wheelchair, not all MS symptoms are visible to others, which means people with MS can struggle to explain what it really feels like to live with the disease. These hidden symptoms can be misunderstood or unacknowledged by people who don’t live with the condition.
Therefore rather than ‘talking at’ the community or adding to the wealth of existing disease information, we chose to put the MS community at the heart of the initiative, and created an interactive experience with a person living with the condition.
The use of virtual reality is known to be highly persuasive for understanding behaviour,3,4therefore to reflect the needs of the MS community we chose to use this technology alongside haptic feedback (another sensory experience) to create a bespoke interactive activity, that brought to life how MS symptoms can manifest in upper limbs. Users were then able to, for the first time, truly experience the challenges of hidden MS symptoms.
References
This was an excellent use of virtual reality because of the haptic element of the glove experience. It meant that people using the VR really got to physically feel the different stages of MS and their impact on an individual trying to carry out day to day tasks. This was an excellent example of not just using virtual reality for the sake of it, it stimulated an emotional and empathetic understanding of MS.
Dr Richard White, MP PhD, Oxford PharmaGenesis - Communiqué Judge
Entry deadline | 11 March 2022 |
Extended entry deadline | 18 March 2022 (additional fee applies) |
Judging days | May 2022 |
Awards Ceremony | 7th July 2022 |
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