Exploring personalized virtual companions for therapy adherence: A Persona-driven design approach

This study explores the use of personalized virtual companions to improve therapy adherence by tailoring digital interactions to individual personality traits. Five patient personas were developed based on the Big Five model and served as the foundation for designing corresponding virtual companions. A game-based prototype assessed personality through user behavior across five minigames and assigned each user a matching persona and companion. Validation with 25 participants demonstrated a high level of agreement with the standardized Big Five Inventory-10 (average 87.7%) and confirmed broad acceptance of the concept. While most users recognized motivational potential in the virtual companions, the findings emphasize the need for more nuanced personalization, including emotional expressiveness, interactivity, and customizable design. These results support the viability of virtual companions as emotionally engaging tools for digital health but underline the importance of flexibility and user alignment in future development.