Inside HNSCC Treatment Decisions: A Study of Physician Mindsets and Behaviours

Client

A Global Healthcare Organization

Service

HCP Research / Qualitative & Quantitative Research

Sector

Healthcare & Life Sciences

Coverage

U.S.A. & Japan

A global healthcare organization partnered with us for HNSCC treatment decision-making research across the United States and Japan. The study explored how specialist physicians make treatment choices and how their attitudes, cognitive biases, clinical experience, and receptivity to change influence those decisions.

Using a multi-phase qualitative and quantitative approach, the research also examined physician archetypes and their response to potential positioning territories.

The Challenge

The challenge was to understand why HNSCC treatment decisions can differ even when physicians are working within the same clinical landscape. Beyond disease characteristics and treatment eligibility, the client wanted to uncover the factors influencing HNSCC treatment decisions, including physician mindset, cognitive bias, clinical experience, and receptivity to change.

The research also needed to examine the wider decision environment surrounding HNSCC care, including how oncologists interact with ENT, radiology, and surgical colleagues when evaluating treatment options.

Key areas of focus included:

• Clinical and behavioural factors influencing HNSCC treatment choice.

• Physician attitudes that affect receptivity to new treatment approaches.

• Cognitive biases that may influence physician behaviour and communication.

• Differences in decision-making across physician archetypes.

• Response to potential positioning territories across specialist segments.

• The role of multidisciplinary interactions in shaping treatment decisions.

• How physician attitudes may evolve over time.

The study therefore needed to move beyond treatment pathways alone and connect clinical decision-making with the individual beliefs, behaviours, and specialist dynamics behind those choices.

What We Did

We designed a multi-phase HNSCC research program across the United States and Japan, combining qualitative depth with quantitative validation. The approach explored treatment behaviour alongside the physician mindsets and archetypes behind those decisions.

The study included:

• Qualitative and quantitative research phases across both markets.
  Specialist HCPs actively involved in HNSCC treatment decisions.

• HNSCC physician segmentation research to examine differences in attitudes and behavioural profiles.

• In-depth exploration of cognitive biases and receptivity to treatment change.

• Assessment of treatment pathways and the factors influencing therapy choice.

• Evaluation of physician response to potential positioning territories.

• Exploration of interactions across oncology, ENT, radiology, and surgical specialties.

• A Japan qualitative phase targeting 10 specialists, with 2–3 respondents across key segments.

• 60-minute qualitative interviews focused on individual treatment rationale and physician mindset.

• Quantitative components designed to extend the learning across a broader HCP sample.

Combining qualitative and quantitative research helped connect the reasoning behind individual physician decisions with patterns across broader specialist segments and physician archetypes.

The Impact of Research

The study gave the client HNSCC physician insights across the United States and Japan, connecting treatment choices with physician attitudes, cognitive biases, receptivity to change, and differences across specialist archetypes.

Key outcomes included:

• The clinical and behavioural factors behind HNSCC treatment choices.

• The influence of physician mindset and cognitive bias on therapy decisions.

• Differences in receptivity to change across specialist profiles.

• How physician archetypes responded to potential positioning territories.

• The role of multidisciplinary interactions in treatment decisions.

• Connections between treatment behaviour, physician archetypes, and future HCP communication.

By combining qualitative and quantitative research, the study connected physician decision-making with the attitudes and behaviours behind treatment choices, helping inform future HCP engagement across physician archetypes.

For teams looking to understand not just what specialists choose but why those choices differ, contact us to uncover the dynamics shaping your market and turn them into direction your business can act on.