UC Irvine

The uptake of self-tracking technologies made it possible for health consumers to gather and interact with a variety of types of personal data. However, individuals often encounter difficulties in understanding and using their tracked health data. In my dissertation, I explore the data work individuals perform when self-tracking for health and the challenges of interpreting and using personal health data within their daily routines, interpersonal and institutional interactions, and life goals. I investigate these issues through the context of fertility, which is a data intensive, sensitive, and complex case of self-tracking that has recently drawn significant attention in the consumer health technology market. To examine this challenging context, in this dissertation I adopt a holistic approach comprising three studies to address multiple perspectives: (i) through the analysis of an online health community I explain the individual challenges of fertility data work and individuals’ emotional engagement with their health data, (ii) through a mobile app review study I investigate how individuals’ data work is mediated, supported, and shaped by technology, and (iii) through an interview study with individuals facing fertility challenges and healthcare professionals specializing in infertility care I discuss how fertility data influence and are influenced by broader ecologies of care. These studies show how individuals’ data work for health is strongly entangled with their emotional experiences and technology often falls short of adequately supporting people’s diverse data needs and changing life goals. They also highlight how individuals’ data and self-tracking activities do not exist in isolation and their data work is shaped by interpersonal, organizational, and societal influences. Drawing from these findings, I discuss specific characteristics of the data work performed by individuals that should be considered when researching and designing technologies to support individual data work for health, explaining how societal pressures are transmitted to the individual through technology and drawing implications for design and for practices beyond the individual.