To help gain awareness of PBA and emphasize appropriate disease lexicon to differentiate PBA from depression, we created The PBAinfo.org Hand Print interactive website. Hand Print puts the confusion people and their caregivers have about PBA front and center. Through the visual “hand print” device, we juxtapose the emotions being displayed with the actual feelings. It’s written all over them—this is not how they really feel. Users learn that crying or laughing that doesn’t match how they feel could be PseudoBulbar Affect, or PBA.

Because people with PBA often have cognitive impairments, the website needed to be easy to use, with simple copy and design and intuitive interactivity. The site is innovative in its use of video and animation on the home page to bring the incongruent or exaggerated nature of PBA episodes to life.

We conducted online user testing research with a total N=350 (190 patients/160 caregivers) to identify campaign selection by assessing:

o Campaign engagement

o Ease of use

o Message takeaway

o Message relevance

o Thoughts and feelings

o Likes/dislikes

o Campaign likeability and profile

o Campaign uniqueness

o Interest/call-to-action

o Impressions of campaign

o Website recall

Results from research identified a clear preference for “Hand Print” in terms of its overall appeal, communication, and relevance. The “I am not sad” statement visually illustrated the mood incongruent symptoms of PBA, and the “first person” view resonated among patients. Ultimately, intention to seek out more information about PBA was strongest for “Hand Print”. In addition, caregivers identified a strong interest in asking a healthcare professional about PBA.

The goal of the Hand Print campaign was to drive awareness and foster open conversations between patients, caregivers and doctors. Website visits for the new site almost quadrupled, increasing from 5,136 weekly visits to 19,317 visits by week 6. The site also resulted in deeper user engagement, with average time on page nearly doubling. Quiz usage for the first 2 months increased 8 times compared to the same 2-month period the previous year for the prior website. (Source: Google Analytics)