Stepping into our shoes

Our In My Shoes app has been relaunched, and we’re asking your IBD teams, and other healthcare professionals, to get involved. We’ve also produced a brand new set of supporting resources to help users make the most of it.

The free immersive app, developed in 2019 in partnership with global pharmaceutical company Takeda UK, enables users to spend 24 hours in the shoes of someone living with Crohn’s or Colitis. Alerts prompt the app user to rush to the loo at inconvenient times, or deal with a range of symptoms such as pain and fatigue. In this way, In My Shoes offers an insight into how Crohn’s or Colitis can disrupt every aspect of daily life.

Since its original launch, In My Shoes has enabled many thousands of people to understand more about Crohn’s and Colitis and empathise with those affected. This helps to build a supportive network of people who understand a little about living with these conditions.

Now, Crohn's & Colitis UK wants to build on this by increasing awareness of the app among the healthcare community. “It’s our ambition that as many healthcare professionals as possible, working within and alongside Crohn’s and Colitis services, find out more about the app, try it out for themselves and recommend it to their patients,” says Sarah Sleet, CEO of Crohn's & Colitis UK.

In the five days following its relaunch on 7 July, In My Shoes was downloaded 600 times and there have already been more than 2,500 visits to the resource pages. Healthcare professional support materials include a guide to the app with suggestions and templates to help promote it to patients and colleagues and video testimonials from other clinicians, as well as posters, a flyer and helpful graphics. Patient support materials include tutorials on how to use the app, personal experiences of people living with Crohn’s or Colitis, and tips on how to introduce the app to your family, friends and colleagues. 

As someone living with Crohn’s himself, GP Kevin Barrett thought he knew everything there was to know about the condition, but he has nevertheless found the app invaluable.

“My condition has been well controlled for several years so I don’t have many ongoing symptoms. But it’s good to have a reminder of the impact of the abdominal pain, the bloating and that constant worry about having to find a toilet. Using the app really brought that home to me. It helped me refocus and see it through a different lens.”

Kevin adds that people living with Crohn's or Colitis shouldn’t feel shy about recommending the app to their healthcare professionals, as most will be very open to trying it. “We’re doing a lot of stuff in the NHS around person-centred and personalised care and trying to find out what actually matters to the patient rather than what we think matters. Patients often point me towards books and come in with newspaper clippings.”

Dietician Anna Julian and her team all tried In My Shoes in the same week. “The breadth of the app was really useful in moving away from just thinking about the dietary components,” she says. “It meant we could experience more holistically what a Crohn's or Colitis patient goes through.”

In My Shoes: 24 Hours with Crohn’s or Colitis has been developed through a partnership between Crohn’s & Colitis UK and Takeda UK, one of Crohn’s & Colitis UK’s corporate partners.