Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p> <bold>Background</bold> Cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CMM), defined as the coexistence of two or more cardiometabolic diseases (e.g., diabetes, heart disease, stroke), poses a major public health challenge globally and in China. It is associated with declined quality of life and increased healthcare utilization. Health information literacy (HIL) is essential for effective self-management of CMM, while patients exhibit significant heterogeneity in HIL-related needs and capabilities. Standardized interventions often fail to address such individual diversity. The persona approach serves as a promising strategy to depict diverse patient characteristics and deliver tailored support. <bold>Objective</bold> To explore the multidimensional characteristics of HIL among patients with CMM, and to construct representative user personas so as to guide the development of personalized health information interventions. <bold>Methods</bold> A descriptive qualitative study was conducted in a tertiary hospital in Shandong Province, China, from March to September 2025. Purposive sampling was adopted to recruit patients with CMM. Semi-structured interviews were carried out covering five HIL dimensions of CMM patients: disease knowledge, health beliefs, health behavior management, health risk perception, and health information competence. Content analysis was used to extract factual labels and construct the dimensional model. Patient personas were developed by categorizing participants based on the above dimensions, and labeled personas were adopted to visualize their health information literacy profiles. The personas were visualized by combining word clouds and statistical tables. <bold>Results</bold> A total of 23 eligible patients with CMM were enrolled in this study. Four distinct patient personas were identified and developed, highlighting the heterogeneous health information literacy (HIL) among patients with CMM. These personas were categorized as follows: Information-Dependent Passive Care Recipients, Cognition-Compromised Biased Self-Regulators, Planning-Oriented Autonomous Precision Managers, and Experience-Deficient Anxious Health Seekers. <bold>Conclusion</bold> Significant group differences exist in the level of health information literacy among CMM patients. Targeted and personalized interventions can be implemented according to patient personas. Future management systems can be developed based on user personas to improve the efficiency and precision of nursing care. </p>