Mapping Blueprint personas (persona mapping)
Persona mapping is a common and useful tool in change management. In this case, we were looking for a change management framework that would be useful to both the demand and supply sides.
The Blueprint personas provided an excellent foundation to take two actions. It:
- Enabled assessment of the potential end-users’ needs when searching for developed solutions.
- Provided different perspectives on the potential change management strategies that could be used in a field testing phase.
Developing Blueprint personas for people with hypertension
We assessed the 12 Blueprint personas for ones that matched the targeted patient group – people with hypertension. We identified five personas that have hypertension, and three that need regular blood checks/hypertension screening. Two personas with a hypertension diagnosis were from a group with chronic conditions and/or particular social needs. Three were from a group of patients with complex needs. One example is 84-year old Spaniard, Maria, who has regular insulin injections.
Using Blueprint personas: key advantages
We felt that using the Blueprint personas has several key advantages over inventing some new personas. This is because they:
- Have been developed and validated by expert teams.
- Represent well the potential needs of people with hypertension. (Indeed, the broad and sufficiently complex representation of people with hypertension was particularly important to experts.)
- Provide broad insights into relevant aspects that could influence change management needs such as digital literacy.
- Supply enough evidence of cross-validation (both from professionals and patients) of the Blueprint personas for expert teams to feel confident about their use.
Indeed, Assistant Professor Antonija Balenović, Director of the Health Centre Zagreb – Centar, enthused:
“We would definitely recommend the persona approach in any similar type of situation – it reduces the workload and cost of the early phases of strategic planning. We see the Blueprint personas as an excellent, cross-validated tool. They help support the use of other traditional research tools – such as surveys and interviews. They really help guide the development of novel ICT solutions in healthcare that are relevant for the needs of the patients.”
