Evaluation of Personas and Daily Activity Maps to Inform Clinical Care and Socially Assistive Robot Training and Design for Persons With Dementia: Mixed Methods Study
Journal of Medical Internet Research ·
Background: Over 55 million people worldwide are living with dementia, resulting in significant caregiving demands and caregiver burden. Socially assistive robots (SARs) are increasingly being explored to reduce caregiving workload and improve the quality of life for persons with dementia; however, their effectiveness depends on person-centered design grounded in a comprehensive understanding of the target population. Personas and their corresponding daily activity maps (DAMs) are user-centered design tools that provide a holistic understanding of the personal, medical, emotional, and life trajectory of persons with dementia, enabling SARs to engage in contextually relevant and empathetic interactions. Despite their potential, these tools have not been formally evaluated for dementia care and digital health technology development. Objective: This mixed methods study aimed to explore the perspectives of professional and family caregivers, health care providers, and robot designers on the quality and use of personas and DAMs in clinical practice and digital health design. Methods: Using purposive sampling, 15 stakeholders involved in dementia care or digital health design were interviewed via Zoom (Zoom Communications, Inc) between March and April 2025 to evaluate a subset of persona-DAM pairs using a modified 12-item version of the Persona Perception Scale (PPS), adapted for dementia care contexts, across 5 domains: Credibility, Completeness, Clarity, Willingness to Use, and Empathy. Participants subsequently provided qualitative perspectives through semistructured interviews, reflecting on their ratings and offering suggestions for improvement. Results: Fifteen participants with a median of 9 (IQR 4-15) years of experience in dementia care evaluated 9 persona-DAM pairs. Overall evaluation-level median PPS scores were 4.79 (IQR 4.45, 4.91) for personas and 4.76 (IQR 4.45, 4.94) for DAMs. For both personas and DAMs, the highest-rated domains were Clarity, Credibility, and Willingness to Use (all median 5.00), suggesting stakeholders perceived the tools favorably and were willing to use them. Empathy scores (personas: median 4.67, IQR 4.25-5; DAMs: median 4.83, IQR 4.33-5) highlighted the need for greater cultural, ethnic, and religious representation to foster culturally sensitive interventions. Completeness was the lowest-scoring domain (personas: median 4.50, IQR 3.94-5; DAMs: median 4.38, IQR 4-5), representing the most quantitative improvement suggestions. Qualitative analysis revealed 3 major themes: (1) improving human-robot interaction training through greater knowledge of the personal context of persons with dementia; (2) comprehensive assessment of clinical history and functional capacities as essential for the provision of safe and effective interaction; and (3) perceived design utility: translating person-centered knowledge into actionable tools. Conclusions: This study provides early-stage exploratory evidence that personas and DAMs are perceived as clinically and technically relevant tools for dementia care, complementing existing clinical documentation through a holistic, person-centered view, and serving as human-centered design tools for developing personalized digital health solutions. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/55761