Korean J Community Nutr.  2022 Jun;27(3):177-191. 10.5720/kjcn.2022.27.3.177.

Using Service Design Tools in Community Nutrition Research: A Case Study in Developing Dietary Guidelines for Young Adults

• Jo E
• Shim JE
• Ryou HJ
• Kim K
• Song SJ
• Kim HJ
• Ahn JS
• Kwon Ki
• Lee HY
• Park S

• KMID: 2531173
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2022.27.3.177

Abstract

Objectives
Recent epidemiological data reported that young adults in their 20 ~ 30s are a vulnerable population with unhealthy dietary practices and a few signs of deteriorated health indicators. However, there are no dietary guidelines that are specifically developed for the young adult population. This study introduces some data collection tools that are mostly used in the service design field, and demonstrates how these tools can be used in nutrition research for developing dietary guidelines for specific target groups.
Methods
To understand the context of food choices among young people, 39 people were enrolled to complete a probes booklet. Thematic analysis and word cloud were performed to capture the main themes from the probes and a persona was developed based on the findings.
Results
Data from the probes enabled us to grasp the various contextual meanings of eating practices among young people. Most participants understand what a healthy diet is and often have a willingness to practice it. However, there were very few participants who were following the practices. We created four types of persona for developing dietary guidelines: healthy eating, emotional eating, convenient eating, and trendy eating.
Conclusions
Probes and persona were used in order to understand the lives of young adults and develop targeted messages. We hope that this introduction will be helpful to researchers who are looking for new ways of understanding their target population in the field of community nutrition.

Keyword

young adult; dietary guidelines; service design; probes; persona