Fostering engagement with health and housing innovation : development of participant personas in a social housing cohort

Abstract

Background : Personas, based on customer or population data, are widely used to inform design decisions in the Commercial Sector. The variety of methods available mean that personas can be produced from various sizes and types of project. Objective : To experiment with the use of personas that bring together survey, household air measurements and electricity-usage sensor, and interview data within a research and innovation project, with the aim of supporting eHealth and eWellbeing product, process and service development through broadening the engagement with and understanding of the data about the local community. Methods : The project participants were social housing residents (adults only) living in central Cornwall, a rural unitary authority in the United Kingdom. A total of 329 households were recruited between September 2017 and November 2018, with 235 (71.4%) providing complete baseline survey data on demographics, socioeconomic position, household composition, home environment, technology ownership, pet ownership, smoking, social cohesion, volunteering, caring, mental wellbeing, physical and mental health-related quality of life and activity. K-prototype cluster analysis was used to identify eight clusters among the baseline survey responses. The sensor and interview data were subsequently analysed by cluster and the insights from all three of the data sources brough together to produce the personas, known as the Smartline Archetypes. Results : The Smartline Archetypes proved to be an engaging way of presenting data, accessible to a broader group of stakeholders than those who accessed the raw anonymised data, thereby providing a vehicle for greater research engagement, innovation and impact. Conclusions : Through the adoption of a tool widely used in practice, research projects could generate greater policy and practical impact, while also becoming more transparent and open to the public.