Title : Characterizing heterogeneous risk profiles and user personas among adolescents with self injurious thoughts and behaviors: An explanatory sequential mixed methods study
Abstract:
Background: Adolescents with Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors (SITB) represent a heterogeneous population with different combinations of individual, family, interpersonal, and contextual risks. Identifying distinct risk profiles and translating these differences into user-centered personas may help inform more tailored support and intervention strategies. This study aimed to identify heterogeneous risk profiles among adolescents with sitb and develop profile-specific user personas based on quantitative classification and qualitative interviews.
Methods: An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was used. First, Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was conducted to identify distinct subgroups of adolescents with SITB according to their patterns of risk characteristics. Second, semi structured interviews were conducted with adolescents representing the identified profiles. Qualitative data were analyzed using inductive and deductive content analysis, with cross-profile comparison focusing on adolescent’s self-harm experiences, major stressors, coping patterns, support needs, and intervention priorities. Quantitative and qualitative findings were then integrated to construct customized user personas.
Results: Four profiles were identified: (1) An interpersonal and academic stress-driven profile, characterized mainly by peer and academic stressors; (2) A family emotional invalidation and dysfunctional functioning-driven profile, characterized by family conflict, parental control, emotional neglect, and ineffective parent–child communication; (3) An internal emotional and cognitive-behavioral dysregulation-driven profile, characterized by negative self-evaluation, rumination, perfectionistic demands, and difficulties in emotion and problem regulation; and (4) A multiple-risk profile, characterized by high-risk factors across individual, family, and peer domains and a comparatively higher level of self-harm risk. Eleven adolescents in the multiple-risk profile participated in qualitative interviews. Across profiles, adolescents differed in the meanings attributed to self-harm, coping patterns, perceived support, and intervention priorities. These findings were synthesized into four customized user personas reflecting distinct patterns of vulnerability and support needs.
Conclusions: Adolescents with SITB comprise heterogeneous profiles with distinct combinations of risk factors and support needs. Integrating LPA with qualitative user-persona development can provide a multidimensional representation of these adolescents and may facilitate the design of more targeted, profile-matched interventions.
