Survey-based personas for a target-group-specific consideration of elderly end users of information and communication systems in the German health-care sector

BACKGROUND In many countries, including Germany, older people are increasing in numbers, while fewer caregivers are available. A way to address the problem is to develop new medical assistance and monitoring systems that are operated by the elderly on their own, e.g. in-home aftercare systems. OBJECTIVE The development of a set of eight data-based personas in terms of a best practice approach is presented. METHOD "Personas" are an integral method of the user-centered design approach. They address the problem of incomplete knowledge of individual user behaviour by introducing archetypal user groups. Thus, personas can be used at an early stage of development to raise the awareness of developers to the needs, skills, and abilities of the elderly. Personas are also a cost-effective method and quickly and easily accessible. In order to guarantee representativeness the development of personas needs to occur based on a robust data set of a certain user group. RESULTS This article presents the data-driven development of eight personas. The applied data set results from a nationwide questionnaire study on the elderly's use of information and communication technology, out of elderly people in Germany. The results will be presented in terms of best practice. CONCLUSION To conclude, survey-based personas of older end users can play an important role in the research and development of innovative devices. APPLICATION The personas presented in this paper can be used in research and development to raise awareness of the needs and demands of end users.