AI Research Techniques for Youth Suicide Prevention Campaign Co-Creation: An AI Rapid Insights Sessions Case Study
We recently completed an AI-driven program of co-creation research to inform a new Youth Suicide Prevention campaign. Authentic, appropriate, and engaging communication is crucial for any advertising campaign, and even more so when targeting youth, particularly at-risk youth. Given the campaign's vital and highly sensitive nature, “getting it right” was imperative and co-creation was required.
Truly understanding the world of youth and their insights requires more than assumptions by adults. It requires techniques that allow youth to be entirely open and honest. Youth must be engaged in a manner that is relevant to them, non-confrontational, and provides them with a forum to voice themselves anonymously. This approach is especially critical when addressing a topic such as Youth Suicide Prevention.
Against this background, we employed AI Rapid Insights Sessions with different at-risk populations (racial and ethnic priority populations, LGBTQIA+, and systems-involved youth) to understand Youth Suicide Prevention associations, experiences, and perspectives. These sessions informed the campaign's direction, look and feel, and messaging. Including the at-risk populations ensured that the co-creation progress and the campaign was inclusive and sensitive to the needs of the target audience. The co-creation program of research was conducted in concert with the agency developing the campaign.
Why AI Rapid Insights Sessions?
Unlocking Insights at Scale
AI Rapid Insights Sessions combine the depth of one-on-one and group conversations with the reach of large-scale surveys, using innovative AI. Q2 Insights has perfected use of these sessions over the course of several years.These sessions mix advanced tech with human expertise to deliver quick, actionable insights.
Using AI, these sessions quickly analyze tons of text and poll responses from 10 to 1,000 participants. Live sessions last 20 minutes to an hour (for this program of research the sessions were an hour in duration). Flexible sessions can span a few days to a week. This tech ensures top-notch accuracy and reliability.
Anonymity and Digital Comfort
We chose AI Rapid Insights Sessions over other forms of research for a number of reasons, not the least of which was anonymity and the comfort youth have with all things digital. The anonymity of these sessions encourages honest and real dialogue, providing a safe space for youth to express their true thoughts and feelings. Also, youth today are accustomed to digital applications, making them relaxed and engaged in these online sessions. This familiarity enhances participation and the quality of insights gathered. Also, the sessions allowed inclusivity and we could conduct the sessions in different languages as required.
Human-Centric Analysis, AI-Powered Efficiency
Senior researchers developed the discussion guides, asking thought-provoking questions and follow-ups. The human research professionals also added depth to the AI analysis, blending numbers with meaningful insights.
Instant Insights and Detailed Reports
Immediately after each session, the agency received a detailed question-by-question dashboard to quickly see all the data. These dashboards stay available in real-time and for two years. Q2 Insights also created an in-depth insights report, connecting different ideas, adding human empathy, and understanding.
What Did We Learn That We Might Not Have Learned Using a Different Methodology?
The methodology we used allowed us to distill and interpret thousands of hours of qualitative data, providing direction on:
- Knowledge of suicidality and Youth Suicide Prevention
- Confidence in helping a peer experiencing suicidality
- The campaign's look and feel
- Themes important to youth in Youth Suicide Prevention communication
- People, behaviors, and emotions to depict in the campaign
- The lived experience of youth suicidality, including state of mind and emotions
- Barriers to seeking help for suicidality
- Desired campaign sentiments, resources, and interventions
- Preferred communicators for Youth Suicide Prevention
Throughout the study, the Q2 Insights team used AI summaries and their human researcher superpowers to glean key insights that were not immediately apparent in the AI summarized answers to questions, such as:
- Youth today face pressures and struggles vastly different from what adults experienced at their age
- Understanding, empathy, and consideration about suicidality varies based on life experiences
- There is hesitancy about contacting crisis hotlines or other resources due to fear of being misunderstood or institutionalized
- Feeling seen and heard is crucial to youth
- Adults need to offer unconditional positive regard when helping youth
- Authenticity is critical
In Conclusion
Engaging youth in co-creating a Youth Suicide Prevention campaign, combined with AI Rapid Insights Sessions and the expertise of human researchers trained in psychology, marketing, and research enabled our clients to develop an outstanding, nuanced, and authentic campaign. Traditional qualitative or quantitative methods, especially those merely testing campaign concepts developed by adults, would likely not have produced the powerful results and direction achieved through this research.
If you would like to learn more about campaign co-creation research, please do not hesitate to contact us. This approach is applicable to any industry or campaign.
Kirsty Nunez is the President and Chief Research Strategist at Q2 Insights a research and innovation consulting firm with international reach and offices in San Diego. Q2 Insights specializes in many areas of research and predictive analytics, and actively uses AI products to enhance the speed and quality of insights delivery while still leveraging human researcher expertise and experience.
