Abstract
We consider why and how women track their menstrual cycles, examining their experiences to uncover design opportunities and extend the field's understanding of personal informatics tools. To understand menstrual cycle tracking practices, we collected and analyzed data from three sources: 2,000 reviews of popular menstrual tracking apps, a survey of 687 people, and follow-up interviews with 12 survey respondents. We find that women track their menstrual cycle for varied reasons that include remembering and predicting their period as well as informing conversations with healthcare providers. Participants described six methods of tracking their menstrual cycles, including use of technology, awareness of their premenstrual physiological states, and simply remembering. Although women find apps and calendars helpful, these methods are ineffective when predictions of future menstrual cycles are inaccurate. Designs can create feelings of exclusion for gender and sexual minorities. Existing apps also generally fail to consider life stages that women experience, including young adulthood, pregnancy, and menopause. Our findings encourage expanding the field's conceptions of personal informatics.
Highlights
Personal tracking for self-knowledge is commonplace, from recording finances for accountability to tracking location for pure curiosity
Relatively little attention has been paid to tracking factors specific to women’s health1, including where a woman is in her menstrual cycle
The study of menstrual cycle tracking builds on prior research in technology for women’s health and personal tracking
Summary
Personal tracking for self-knowledge is commonplace, from recording finances for accountability to tracking location for pure curiosity. Relatively little attention has been paid to tracking factors specific to women’s health, including where a woman is in her menstrual cycle. The study of menstrual cycle tracking builds on prior research in technology for women’s health and personal tracking. The HCI community has a rich history of studying technology in support of women at different stages of pregnancy and motherhood. HCI has further considered designs for technology supporting pregnancy and motherhood, including rethinking the experience of breastfeeding [4,10] and aiding in tracking child development [22,39]. Peyton et al describe a pregnancy ecology to aid in design, shifting from a focus on a woman’s activity, diet, and weight tracking to supporting her information seeking, self-knowledge, and social needs [34]
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