A Theory-Based, Quantitative Approach to Developing Priority Segments and Personas

Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis:  Marketing and communication activities about the safety of prescription drugs once they have been approved for use poses important questions for research and practice because of the changing evidence base.  The Food and Drug Administration cannot delay in providing reasonable guidance to patients, providers, and pharmaceutical companies in the face of new research findings or reports of adverse events.  Audience segmentation may improve the effectiveness of this guidance (referred to as Drug Safety Communication, DSC). The purpose of this project was to develop a set of theoretically and research-based audiences profiles and examine how these factors and other consumer characteristics can shape the effectiveness of FDA communications. Health literacy literature, the Precaution Adoption Process Model, the model of Risk Information Seeking and Processing and the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model were used to identify the variables of interest.

Methods:  We conducted a national cross-sectional internet panel survey of 1,244 consumers that included a variety of measures including health literacy; perceptions of relative risk, seeking control and subjective norms;  self-appraisal of skill; information competency; self-efficacy;  and medication use (self or household). These data were analyzed with CHAID and latent class analysis. We then developed personas to bring these data to life for program staff. These segments were examined for differences in comprehension, behavioral intentions, and other measures of effectiveness based on responses to alternative versions of a DSC (standard and plain language) among the personas. 

Results:  Using a split half sample, latent class analysis identified four clusters of respondents. The analysis identified distinguishing characteristics between the personas including age, race, education, health literacy, perceived seeking control, self-appraisal of skill, information insufficiency, self-efficacy, and medication use. These clusters were replicated when the analysis was done of the second half of the sample.

Conclusions:  The results demonstrate that, among a nationally representative sample of adults, four distinct groups of characteristics exist on measures of health literacy and risk related information-seeking. These statistically derived groups can be transformed into personas that quickly convey the essential elements of each one. These Personas (and their respective prevalence in the population) were labeled as “Not Engaged” (12%), “Low Involvement Users” (29%), “Careful Users” (50%) and “Social Information Seekers” (9%). Significant differences on socio-demographic, risk information seeking variables, and health literacy levels were found among the four Personas. There were significant differences among the responses of each segment to the sample DSCs, particularly how well they understood the content, if they would talk to their health care provider, whether they would report the highlighted symptoms to their provider or the FDA, and how likely they would be to search for more information about the drug after reading the DSC.

Implications for research and/or practice:  Relatively inexpensive web-based surveys, grounded in relevant theoretical constructs, can be used to develop priority segments for national health communication and social marketing efforts. Results from statistical analyses can lead to user friendly personas to visualize segments and guide the development of messages, products and services.