Het Digitale Buddyhuis

When you find out you have cancer, your world is turned upside down. That was true for Femke Riel, too. A few days after her diagnosis, she was sitting anxiously in the waiting room at St. Antonius Ziekenhuis, waiting for the results of her MRI scan. Hester was there too, ‘a radiant woman wearing a hat’. ‘She had such a positive presence, but I knew straight away: she has it too.’ Surgical oncologist Dr Doeksen introduced the two women, and they became buddies for each other throughout treatment and afterwards. That meeting led to the founding of Het Buddyhuis, which offers support after a (breast) cancer diagnosis.

Het Buddyhuis connects people diagnosed with (breast) cancer one to one. Het Buddyhuis aims to improve the quality of life and psychosocial wellbeing of people with cancer and those who have had it. It may also help reduce healthcare costs, as buddies may have less need to speak with healthcare professionals.

Core values

We believe that making Het Buddyhuis available online can make a significant difference by enabling more social contact with others who have been through similar experiences. We want to give everyone, including patients who are too ill to leave home, a chance to reduce the social isolation that illness can cause and that the COVID-19 restrictions have made worse. Patients who sign up with Het Buddyhuis remain in control: they choose their own buddy based on matching criteria they provide in advance (such as age, type of illness or treatment, and whether they have children), and decide for themselves how to stay in touch. Some speak only once; others call every day or meet in person. Contact with one or more buddies can help patients feel less alone and more supported, or help them maintain a positive outlook on life despite their illness.

Aim and need

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was not possible to meet in person. Many buddies and patients said they needed another way to connect and stay in touch. We also asked buddies for feedback after organising several webinars. Attendance rose considerably with each webinar, and every participant said they valued the focus on digital meetings and that the webinars addressed their current questions and needs. A recent study of 1,051 current and former breast cancer patients, carried out by UMC Utrecht in the Utrecht region, also showed that their emotional and social functioning was significantly worse during the COVID-19 period than before it. More patients were experiencing depression, and almost half reported feeling lonely. To meet the buddies’ needs and improve the psychosocial wellbeing of current and former cancer patients, we worked together to make Buddyhuis digital.

The Digital Buddyhuis

Het Buddyhuis and Data Science Lab. joined forces to develop a Buddyhuis app. It lets buddies connect digitally, makes it easier to match them and allows the project to scale to other patient groups in different hospitals. Het Buddyhuis wants this form of care to be available nationwide to everyone who needs it. This way, buddies can still connect with each other. The Digital Buddyhuis consists of an app (Apple Store & Google Play Store) and a website for digital buddy-to-buddy contact, intelligent matching and an information platform.

Digital buddy-to-buddy contact

New users can sign up through the app by providing only the essential personal details and answering a few questions. As a buddy, you choose which information is shared with other buddies. Buddies always have one-to-one contact through the platform’s chat, but a user can have separate conversations with several buddies. The chat function is custom-built rather than relying on an existing service such as WhatsApp. It is essential that messages are secure and can be read only by the sender and recipient. The platform will comply with all relevant privacy laws and other legislation. If a user decides to leave the platform, all their data will, in principle, be deleted from the systems. Users can choose to help Buddyhuis by consenting to their data being retained in anonymised form.

Intelligent matching

In the past, buddies were matched by hand using a questionnaire they completed when registering. This took a lot of time. The process has been replaced by translating a set of matching rules into a ‘smart’ digital alternative. With this script, a new user can be matched with a suitable buddy in seconds and can contact them straight away. Users specify which ‘characteristics’ they want the match to be based on.

Longer term

By making Buddyhuis digital, we aim to make it even easier for people with shared experiences to connect. We expect the digital Buddyhuis could ultimately reduce healthcare costs. For one thing, patients may be able to receive psychosocial support at an earlier stage, potentially preventing psychological problems in the longer term. We also expect patients to have less need for additional support through, for example, phone calls or other contact with a GP, physiotherapist or specialist.

App features

• Registration/sign-up form
• Intelligent matchmaking
• Login and password reset functionality
• Chat functionality
• Group chat functionality
• View/edit your own profile page and those of your buddies
• Secure admin portal for approving buddies
• Push notifications for new messages
• Add buddies using a QR code
• Option to request the removal of a match
• Continuous development in compliance with all privacy laws and regulations (Privacy by Design)

https://www.buddyhuis.nl/