TY - JOUR
T1 - Developing personas to inform the design of digital interventions for perinatal mental health
AU - Zimmermann, Martha
AU - Yonkers, Kimberly A.
AU - Tabb, Karen M.
AU - Schaefer, Ana
AU - Peacock-Chambers, Elizabeth
AU - Clare, Camille A.
AU - Boudreaux, Edwin D.
AU - Lemon, Stephenie C.
AU - Byatt, Nancy
AU - Tulu, Bengisu
N1 - This work was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, through Grant KL2TR001454. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
C.A.C sits on the Board of Trustees of the National Medical Association and on the New York Statewide Breastfeeding Coalition. N.B. has received salary and/or funding support from Massachusetts Department of Mental Health via the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program for Moms (MCPAP for Moms). N.B. is also the Medical Director of Research and Evaluation for MCPAP for Moms and the Executive Director of the Lifeline for Families Center at UMass Chan Medical School. She has received honoraria from Global Learning Collaborative. She has also served as a consultant for The Kinetix Group, VentureWell, and JBS International. All other authors have no competing interests to declare. All other authors have no interests to declare.
PY - 2024/12/1
Y1 - 2024/12/1
N2 - Objectives: Digital interventions are increasingly in demand to address mental health concerns, with significant potential to reach populations that disproportionately face barriers to accessing mental health care. Challenges with user engagement, however, persist. The goal of this study was to develop user personas to inform the development of a digital mental health intervention (DMHI) for a perinatal population. Materials and Methods: We used participatory User-Centered Design (UCD) methods to generate and validate personas (ie, representative profiles of potential users). We applied this methodology to a case example of an Anxiety Sensitivity Intervention. Phases included (1) Characteristic identification, (2) Persona generation, (3) Persona consolidation, (4) Persona validation, and (5) Persona refinement. Advisory Council members with lived expertise of perinatal mental health conditions generated 6 personas. We used cluster analysis and qualitative analysis to consolidate personas. We used participant interviews with perinatal individuals experiencing depression or anxiety and economic marginalization (n ¼ 12) to qualitatively validate and refine these personas. Results: We identified 4 user personas with potentially unique design needs that we characterized as being “Resilient,” “Lonely,” “Overwhelmed,” and “Aware.” Discussion: Personas generated through this process had distinct characteristics and design implications including the need to prioritize (1) content personalization, (2) additional content describing support options and resources (eg, doulas, midwives), (3) careful consideration of the type of information provided by users, and (4) transparent options for information and data sharing. Conclusion: DMHIs will need to be adapted for relevance for a perinatal population. The personas we developed are suggestive of the need for design considerations specific to distinct potential user groups within this population.
AB - Objectives: Digital interventions are increasingly in demand to address mental health concerns, with significant potential to reach populations that disproportionately face barriers to accessing mental health care. Challenges with user engagement, however, persist. The goal of this study was to develop user personas to inform the development of a digital mental health intervention (DMHI) for a perinatal population. Materials and Methods: We used participatory User-Centered Design (UCD) methods to generate and validate personas (ie, representative profiles of potential users). We applied this methodology to a case example of an Anxiety Sensitivity Intervention. Phases included (1) Characteristic identification, (2) Persona generation, (3) Persona consolidation, (4) Persona validation, and (5) Persona refinement. Advisory Council members with lived expertise of perinatal mental health conditions generated 6 personas. We used cluster analysis and qualitative analysis to consolidate personas. We used participant interviews with perinatal individuals experiencing depression or anxiety and economic marginalization (n ¼ 12) to qualitatively validate and refine these personas. Results: We identified 4 user personas with potentially unique design needs that we characterized as being “Resilient,” “Lonely,” “Overwhelmed,” and “Aware.” Discussion: Personas generated through this process had distinct characteristics and design implications including the need to prioritize (1) content personalization, (2) additional content describing support options and resources (eg, doulas, midwives), (3) careful consideration of the type of information provided by users, and (4) transparent options for information and data sharing. Conclusion: DMHIs will need to be adapted for relevance for a perinatal population. The personas we developed are suggestive of the need for design considerations specific to distinct potential user groups within this population.
KW - digital health
KW - perinatal anxiety
KW - personas
KW - prevention
KW - user-centered design
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U2 - 10.1093/jamiaopen/ooae112
DO - 10.1093/jamiaopen/ooae112
M3 - Article
C2 - 39494447
AN - SCOPUS:85208566335
SN - 2574-2531
VL - 7
JO - JAMIA Open
JF - JAMIA Open
IS - 4
M1 - ooae112
ER -