Co-Designing an Active Play Parenting Program to Support Emotion Regulation in Early Childhood: Presenting User Personas and Program Concepts

The current paper describes four studies involved in the co-design of a novel parenting program, called ‘Active Play’, that aims to support emotion regulation in children aged two-four years. Study One involved the development of a new three-phase co-design framework, Design Mapping, to apply collaboration tools within a systematic, three-phase development methodology (Understand; Co-Develop; Prototype). Studies two-four followed the three Design Mapping phases and aimed to develop a set of Active Play principles, encapsulating the theoretical underpinnings of the program (Aim One); co-create a set of user personas, representing the diverse needs of different parent user groups (Aim Two); co-create an overarching program concept (Aim Three); and co-create program resources that address the needs of different personas (Aim Four). To address Aim One, Study Two conducted a narrative review of relevant research literature. To address Aim Two, Study Four developed prototype user personas in team ideation workshops, drawing on findings from qualitative research conducted in Study Three, which were evolved in a parent end-user co-design workshop (n=15). Four personas were identified representing different relationships parents have with physical activity (Team Captain, Cheerleader, Not a Fan, Allrounder). To address Aims Two and Three, Study Four developed the programs overarching concept and practical strategies in team ideation workshops, which were evolved in two end-user co-design workshops (n=9), aiming to identify and address barriers to program effectiveness. Based on workshop outcomes, the Active Play program was conceptualised as a set of 30 active games, tailored to specific difficult parenting situations. Five themes were found in user identified barriers, e.g., child engagement and parent utilisation barriers. Barriers were systematically addressed in prototype concepts for the set of 30 program resources, which were tested in a professional co-design workshop, and translated into resources scripts.