Personas

Make participants tangible

flowchart LR
    Assumptions[Scattered assumptions] --> Persona[Persona]
    Persona --> Recruitment[Recruitment choices]
    Persona --> Protocol[Protocol review]
    Persona --> Engagement[Participant engagement]

Teams rarely struggle because they have no idea who a study is for. They struggle because that understanding stays informal, vague, or trapped in workshop notes.

A persona gives the team a durable participant model they can return to when they need to answer questions such as:

• who is this study really designed for
• what may make participation easier or harder
• which communication, literacy, language, or health factors will shape the experience
• whether recruitment and engagement assumptions still hold up under review

That matters because participant understanding influences real operational decisions. If it lives only in slides or memory, it is hard to reuse, challenge, or improve.

Keep context connected

flowchart LR
    Trial[Trial] --> Generate[Generate persona]
    Trial --> Link[Link existing persona]
    Generate --> Persona[Persona record]
    Link --> Persona
    Persona --> Questionnaire[Engagement questionnaire]
    Questionnaire --> Review[Persona-based feedback]

In many teams, personas are lightweight artifacts that help in planning but disappear once execution begins.

In TrialStack, a persona is a governed record that stays connected to the work it is supposed to improve. It can be:

• created directly by the team
• generated from trial context
• linked back to one or more trials
• used in participant-facing engagement workflows
• supported by related media and artifacts

That is the real difference. TrialStack does not treat personas as static archetypes. It treats them as reusable operating context that can move between planning, trial relationships, and engagement review.

Put personas to work

flowchart LR
    Persona[Persona] --> Recruitment[Shape recruitment thinking]
    Persona --> Protocol[Review protocol choices]
    Persona --> Friction[Anticipate friction and motivation]
    Persona --> Questionnaire[Answer questionnaires from persona perspective]
    Persona --> Comparison[Compare participant profiles around a trial]

Teams usually get the most value from personas when they need to make participant-facing decisions, not when they are producing background documentation for its own sake.

The page is especially useful when a team needs to:

• sharpen recruitment thinking before outreach begins
• challenge protocol choices against a realistic participant profile
• understand likely concerns, motivation, and drop-off risk
• compare multiple participant profiles around the same trial
• answer engagement questionnaires from a persona perspective instead of from internal assumptions

Personas also work in both directions. A team can start from the persona and connect it to the right study, or start from a trial and generate or attach the personas that should inform recruitment, eligibility, enrollment targeting, and engagement review.

On the page

The Persona page is intentionally compact. It has one main summary surface and two relationship tabs.

Surface	Purpose	What users do there
Summary	Maintain the participant model itself	Capture identity, context, motivation, concerns, and health-related detail
Trials	Show where the persona has operational meaning	Review linked trials, including eligibility and enrollment context
Media	Keep supporting context close to the record	Review files and artifacts attached to the persona

Most teams use the page in a simple rhythm:

1. Create or generate the persona.
2. Capture the core participant profile in the summary.
3. Link the persona to the trial where it should influence decisions.
4. Refine the profile as the team’s understanding improves.
5. Revisit the record when recruitment, engagement, or protocol assumptions change.

classDiagram
    class PersonaPage {
        +Summary
        +TrialsTab
        +MediaTab
    }

    class Summary {
        +Demographics
        +Location
        +Health
    }

    class Demographics {
        +identity
        +motivation
        +concerns
    }

    class Location {
        +city
        +region
        +country
        +languages
    }

    class Health {
        +health status
        +medical history
        +current medications
    }

    class TrialsTab {
        +linked trials
        +eligibility context
        +enrollment context
    }

    class MediaTab {
        +supporting assets
    }

    PersonaPage *-- Summary
    PersonaPage *-- TrialsTab
    PersonaPage *-- MediaTab
    Summary *-- Demographics
    Summary *-- Location
    Summary *-- Health

What to capture

mindmap
  root((Strong persona records))
    Believable participant
    Trial relevance
    Motivation and friction
    Language and access context
    Relationship meaning

A strong persona is not a bag of demographics. It gives the team a believable participant model they can actually make decisions with.

Good persona records usually do five things well:

• they describe a plausible person, not a checklist of disconnected attributes
• they stay close to a real trial, workflow, or engagement question
• they explain motivation, hesitation, and likely participation friction
• they capture language, location, and access context that changes how communication should work
• they make trial relationships meaningful, not decorative

That is why only First Name and Last Name are required. The point is not to force completion. The point is to capture the information that improves real downstream decisions.

Review, history, and other governed behavior are covered in the Workflows section and apply here in the same way they do across the rest of the governed record model.

Demographics

mindmap
  root((Demographics))
    Name
    Birth date
    Gender
    Ethnicity and race
    Literacy and engagement
    Motivation and concerns

This section captures the identity, participation, and behavioral context that helps the team understand how a representative participant may respond to the study.

Label	Description	Type
First Name	Short identifier that makes the persona easier to discuss and recognize	Text
Last Name	Second identifier for a more complete named profile	Text
Birth Date	Age-related context when eligibility, access, or communication style depends on life stage	Date
Gender	Gender context when it changes participant experience, representation, or study relevance	Select
Ethnicity	Ethnicity context used when representation or participant experience matters to planning	Select
Race	Race categories used when representation or downstream reporting requires it	Multi-select
Socioeconomic Status	Economic and social context that may influence access, burden, or participation feasibility	Select
Health Literacy	Expected ability to interpret health information and instructions	Select
Engagement Level	Expected willingness or ability to stay engaged over time	Select
Motivation	Why this participant would consider taking part	Rich text
Concerns	What is likely to create hesitation, resistance, or drop-off risk	Rich text

Location

mindmap
  root((Location))
    City
    Region
    Country
    Primary language
    Secondary languages

Location and language shape far more than mailing details. They affect accessibility, trust, communication choices, and how realistic a recruitment or engagement plan will be.

Label	Description	Type
City	Local context that may shape access, travel burden, or service availability	Text
State/Province	Regional context used for planning, logistics, or regulatory nuance	Text
Country	Country context for geography, language, and market-specific assumptions	Country select
Primary Language	Main language to design communication around	Select
Secondary Languages	Additional languages that may affect support and engagement	Language multi-select

Health

mindmap
  root((Health))
    Health status
    Medical history
    Current medications

This section gives the persona practical relevance for trial design, recruitment fit, and participant-facing review. It does not replace clinical records. It captures the health context needed to reason about the participant profile.

Label	Description	Type
Health Status	Current health picture that frames the persona’s day-to-day condition or disease burden	Rich text
Medical History	Background conditions or history that influence relevance, eligibility, or participant experience	Rich text
Current Medications	Ongoing treatments that may shape burden, eligibility, or practical study fit	Rich text