My Data, My Choice, My Insights: Women's Requirements when Collecting, Interpreting and Sharing their Personal Health Data

Abstract

HCI research has been instrumental in enabling self-directed health tracking. Despite a plethora of devices and data, however, users' views of their own health are often fragmented. This is a problem for women's health, where physical and mental observations and symptoms are strongly intertwined. An integrated view throughout different life stages could help to better understand these connections, facilitate symptom alleviation through life-style changes, and support timely diagnosis: currently, women's health issues often go under-researched and under-diagnosed. To capture the needs and worries of self-directed tracking, interpreting and sharing women's health data, we held workshops with 28 women. Drawing upon feminist methods, we conducted a Reflexive Thematic Analysis to identify six central themes that ground opportunities and challenges for life-long, self-directed tracking of intimate data. These themes inform the design of tools for data collection, analysis and sharing that empower women to better understand their bodies and demand adequate health services.