Creating User Personas to Represent the Needs of Dementia Caregivers who Support Medication Management at Home: A Qualitative User-Centered Design Study (Preprint)

Abstract

Caregiver-assisted medication management plays a critical role in promoting medication adherence and quality of life for people living with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias (ADRD). Caregivers of people living with ADRD can benefit from interventions tailored to their medication management needs; however, the needs of caregivers related to medication management are not well understood.

The objective of this study was to create user personas that reflect the variation in approaches and unmet needs among caregivers managing medication on behalf of people living with dementia.

Participants were self-identified primary caregivers of people with ADRD living with or near the care recipient. Virtual contextual inquiry was completed in three stages: 1) enrollment interview, 2) virtual observation over a 1-week period, and 3) post-observation interview. Inductive content analysis of interview transcripts was used to identify dimensions of caregivers’ approaches to medication management. Team-based affinity diagramming was used to identify attributes within these dimensions. Attributes that frequently co-occurred within participants were grouped to create personas.

Participants (N=25) were a mean age 62.32 years (SD = 11.86) and 68% were female. Caregivers varied across six dimensions relevant to medication management: approach to medication acquisition, medication storage and organization, medication administration, monitoring the care recipient for symptoms, communication with care network regarding medication, and acquiring information about medication. Three personas were created to represent this variation in approaches to medication management: Checklist Cheryl, in Control; Social Sam, Keeps it Simple; and Responsive Rhonda, Stays Relaxed.

The identified dimensions of caregiver-assisted medication management, and the associated personas, can be used to inform the design of future interventions and technologies for caregivers of people living with ADRD who assist with medication management.