General Discussion 205 7 Representing the typical problem-situations Using personas, accompanied by a description of a day in their life, to present the problem situations of emotional eaters proved successful. Based on this thesis’ result, it was found that both the proto-typical problem situations “After giving in to cravings” and “Experiencing cravings” were recognized well. However, a note must be made about unpredicted factors that may have contributed to participants rating one persona better than the other one. Our research found that one persona was better appreciated than the other one. Users may have been misled by its appearance. Thus, they are less likely to relate the presented problem situation to themselves. This may have been caused by, among other factors, the difference in appearance of the two different personas (one of them is older and perhaps less appealing), and the differences in appearance in terms of (cultural) background, education, and socioeconomic status. When developing personas, it is important to strive for uniformity and unambiguity in personal profile and background to prevent participants from letting outward appearances influence their choices. In future studies it is recommended, as stated in Chapter 5, that personas differ less from each other in person-related data such as socioeconomic status and background. Making the personas more comparable might have impact on the heterogeneity. By deploying systematic methods, such as using the computational method, silhouette clustering (utilizing a diverse range of medical and lifestyle data) [69], and quantitative cluster analysis [70], a better consistency of personas could be achieved. Therefore, it is advised to enhance the consistency and clarity of the existing personas through the application of quantitative cluster analyses. Implications for design: tailoring In literature the perception emerges that a successful online intervention is likely the one that is tailored or personalized to its user. If the user really needs to be enabled to working independently to improve lifestyle or behaviour, a ‘one size fits all’ approach is undesirable [71-74]. Users are more likely to prefer a tailored or personalized program via an app that allows them to regulate and plan their approach to self-management [75].
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjY0ODMw