Toward Designing Accessible and Meaningful Software for Cancer Survivors

TL;DR

The paper addresses how cancer survivors with impairments arising from cancer and its treatment experience software accessibility challenges. It employs a formative, multi-method approach—survey (n=46), interviews (n=20), and diary study (n=10)—to identify impairments such as chemo brain, visual, and dexterity issues, and the corresponding software challenges. It synthesizes a set of accessibility guidelines and design features, including bullet-friendly content, large fonts, high contrast, zoom, voice input/output, and gamification, aimed at supporting advocacy, socialization, and health-related use. The work fills a gap in CSCW and accessibility literature by providing concrete, practitioner-ready guidance to design software that improves quality of life for cancer survivors and invites further validation with designers and clinicians.

Abstract

Cancer survivors experience a wide range of impairments arising from cancer or its treatment, such as chemo brain, visual impairments, and physical impairments. These impairments degrade their quality of life and potentially make software use more challenging for them. However, there has been limited research on designing accessible software for cancer survivors. To bridge this research gap, we conducted a formative study including a survey (n=46), semi-structured interviews (n=20), and a diary study (n=10) with cancer survivors. Our results revealed a wide range of impairments experienced by cancer survivors, including chemo brain, neuropathy, and visual impairments. Cancer survivors heavily relied on software for socialization, health purposes, and cancer advocacy, but their impairments made software use more challenging for them. Based on the results, we offer a set of accessibility guidelines that software designers can utilize when creating applications for cancer survivors. Further, we suggest design features for inclusion, such as health resources, socialization tools, and games, tailored to the needs of cancer survivors. This research aims to spotlight cancer survivors' software accessibility challenges and software needs and invite more research in this important yet under-investigated domain.