Using Personas as a Tool for People-Centred Segmentation and Health Systems Planning in Ontario, Canada

Health systems are increasingly using population segmentation for planning to organise populations into segments with similar health characteristics. However, given that these data-driven approaches rely on available data, they fail to encompass important social determinants of health, thereby making decision-making challenging. Segmentation is powerful, but little is known about how missing information could be incorporated to more accurately characterise segments.

We demonstrate a process that uses personas [i.e., fictional stories] to apply the outputs of population segmentation in Ontario, Canada. First, we created personas using available data to represent individuals in a population segment. Second, we conducted focus groups with service users, caregivers, and providers to understand what information was missing from the persona. We conducted two iterative rounds of focus groups with 27 participants to test and assess this process on the frailty population segment.

Findings revealed the preferred design and types of information to present in a persona to represent individuals from a segment. Participants also identified what information was pertinent or missing to better understand the frailty population segment in Ontario.

Personas can be useful for health system planners as a mechanism to incorporate community perspectives to enhance data-driven segments for planning.