CASE STUDY
Leveraging Ethnography to Understand the Burden of Disease
biopharma
Uncovering the Burden
Strategic Foundation
- Ethnography
Deliverables & Tactics
- Ethnographic Research Study
- Documentary Filmmaking
- Stakeholder Maps (Journey & Expectation)
- Exhibition Posters
- Published Abstracts and Manuscripts



PROGRAM OVERVIEW
LIFT partnered with a leading pharmaceutical company and patient advocacy organization to conduct a post-marketing mixed methods study grounded in ethnography to explore the burden of disease (safety and lived experience) for adults living with RA.
OBJECTIVE
To leverage qualitative methods with quantitative survey instruments to understand the lived experience of RA patients and their caregivers.
Hearing the STORY IN THEIR OWN WORDS
So much about ethnography is simply being present and listening. Throughout the course of this project, we listened. We listened to each person, in person, over and over again. By sitting down in their homes, watching the recording interview, and transcribing each word, we began to uncover the human truth at the core of this burden known as RA.
GOALS
- Providers deliver better care and more targeted therapeutic experiences
- Patients achieve better outcomes when using biologics
- Marketers re-imagine the ARA patient experience and frame a more compelling brand story for drug manufacturers.
- Academic researchers craft more compelling literature around the study of BOD and PROs.
TARGETED AREAS OF FOCUS
We focused on providing invaluable insight into living with RA: practical and emotional realities, gaps, frustrations, etc. We also focused on assessing the value of qualitative ethnographic inquiry compared to the standard quantitative survey instruments and to explore potential gaps that may exist in quantitative surveys.
CHALLENGES
METHOD
Outcome
The insights team developed a comprehensive narrative that was shared with our client partners through a set of deliverables. Those outputs took the form of a designed ethnographic insights report, two published manuscripts, multiple patient personas, a detailed patient journey map, and a documentary film. Our client also gained a rich understanding of RA patient and caregiver perspectives on the coping strategies required to live with chronic pain, the factors that affected their feelings of success, the validity of patient-reported measures, and more.