Self-tracking Devices Research Articles

Sensing a Heartbeat: A New Perspective on Self-Tracking Technologies through the Integration of Interoception

Fitness trackers are increasingly used by their wearers to monitor and optimise their exercise, health, and well-being. What is usually not considered is the role our interoceptive sense, the sense for inner-bodily processes, plays in the interpretation of body data and the formation of habits. By including neuroscientific research, perspectives from pragmatist philosophy, and science and technology studies into the analysis of self-tracking devices, this article will give a perspective on the scope and the effects of the involvement of the interoceptive sense in self-tracking practices. By offering a critical analysis of the contextualisation of experience through self-tracking devices, this article will argue that interoceptive awareness provides the context to make sense of body data. I propose here that paying greater attention to how interoception is involved in the mediation of bodily processes and activities through tracking devices can give novel insights into self-tracking as an embodied and affective practice.

Distal and proximal factors of wearable users' quantified-self dependence: A cognitive-behavioral model.

While using self-tracking devices for physical health has become ubiquitous, the potential for quantified-self (QS) dependence as a detrimental outcome for mental health is under-explored. This study examined the mechanism of wearable users' QS dependence by investigating both the distal and proximal factors based on a cognitive-behavioral model. A total of 535 wearable users aged 18-35 years were surveyed in this study. The surveys included control variable questions related to age, gender, monthly income, BMI, and wearable use experience. Key variable measures included distal factor (habitual use of wearables), proximal factors (perceived external regulation, recognition, and perceived irreplaceability), and perceived QS dependence. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test research hypotheses. The results revealed that habitual use of wearables as a distal factor alone was negatively associated with perceived QS dependence. However, it positively influenced perceived external regulation, recognition, and perceived irreplaceability, which in turn significantly contributed to perceived QS dependence, suggesting the suppression effect of the proximal factors. The relationships between habitual use of wearables and QS dependence are complex. Although habitual use may seem apparently harmless, it can indirectly foster maladaptive cognitions, thereby promoting dependence. These findings underscore the potential threats of maladaptive cognitions that may arise from leveraging technology to promote physical health, thus offering guidance to technology designers for interventions.

‘A love note to our future selves’: the coaching imperative in platform cultures


 
 
 This article looks at the imperative of life coaching on media platforms as a broader social technology and a technology of the self. Life coaching suggests that a better future self can be achieved through the constant training of one’s personality, body, taste, preferences, emotions, image, communication skills, and a myriad of other life aspects. I understand the coaching imperative as a wider mandate of self- improvement standing at the crossroads of the wellness and spirituality industries (e.g. mindfulness, yoga, self-help), the body industry (e.g. fitness, health, exercise), guidance and counselling (e.g. ‘how to become a millionaire’, ‘how to become an alpha male’) and the affordances of media platforms. Using literature on micro-celebrities and platform studies as well as research on life coach training programmes, books, and instructions, I argue that the ‘self’ in this narrative is an ongoing project, constantly under supervision and reframing. The imperative to improve assembles a productive process composed of technical infrastructure, e.g. self-tracking devices, tests, and apps, and labour power, e.g. self-labour, the labour of the therapist, the coach, and the analyst.
 
 

Impact of self-directed exercise intervention in a minority rich, hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) inpatient population at high risk for sarcopenia and falls.

390 Background: Extended hospitalizations in the adult HSCT population increase patients’ risk for deconditioning and sarcopenia. Sarcopenia negatively impacts overall survival in adult HSCT patients (Armenian et al, 2019) and is strongly associated with falls among older adults (Yeung et al, 2019; Marques A & Queirós C., 2018; Wheatley et al, 2021). Methods: In a safety net, minority rich, academic medical center in suburban NYC, stationary pedals were placed inside patient rooms in a 31-bedded inpatient HSCT unit starting Q4 2020. Intentional, inpatient room placement prevented additional risk of infectious exposures to COVID-19 in late 2020-2021, allowed for safe access to pedals from a seated position in chairs inside patient rooms, and provided insight into self-directed exercise participation. Attending MDs, PAs and RNs encourage HSCT patients to utilize stationary pedals up to 3 times daily, while usage remains self-directed. Direct observation of patient pedal usage and patient-verbalized interest in participation reflects positive acceptance and consistent usage since implementation. Results: 2019-2023 Midas Event Reporting data was reviewed by the author. Total numbers of Weak/Impaired Gait patient falls decreased in the post-implementation period: 19 falls at baseline versus 13 falls in 2021, 11 falls in 2022, and 3 falls in Q1 2023. Pre-intervention 2019 data indicates 63.3% of falls are among Weak/Impaired Gait patients. (2020 falls data is not included due to unit closures during the COVID-19 pandemic). Post-intervention 2021-2023 data reveals a mean of 51.2% of falls are in Weak/Impaired Gait patients, indicating a 12.1% decline in falls in the post-intervention period of 2.25 years. Conclusions: Sarcopenia and inpatient falls impact patient outcomes (i.e., injuries, extended hospitalizations, and survival) and are financially burdensome. Each inpatient fall, whether injurious or not, costs hospitals approximately 35,000 (Dykes et al, 2023). Reductions in numbers of inpatient falls at this institution are potentially associated with the following hospital cost savings: 210K in 2021, 280K in 2022 and a projected 245K in 2023. Reduction in sarcopenia during extended hospitalizations, when reviewed alongside the financial impact of inpatient falls, supports the ongoing implementation of self-directed exercises in this population. Next steps include self-directed use of resistance bands, chair-based and bed-based stretches, and utilizing self-tracking devices to record exercise duration. (Full references available upon request).

Wearable witnesses: Deathlogging and framing wearable technology data in “Fitbit murders”

Wearable self-tracking devices such as Fitbit and Apple Watch have begun to be featured in high-profile criminal cases such as murder trials for the ways the data from these devices supposedly give access to objective truths about a victim's physiological state and time of death. Drawing from the concepts of deathlogging and datafication, we argue that an examination of media framing around wearables in criminal investigations and court rooms helps demonstrate how technologies become connected to different domains and practices. A discourse analysis of five case studies and 57 news stories showed how the framing of wearables in this context emphasized both enchantment with the capacity for datafication to witness, as well as contestation around how to define and interpret this witnessing. This study demonstrated how reporting around the incorporation of mobile media technologies into institutional practices often reproduced desires for digital technologies to provide access to “the truth” of social reality.

Contextualizing Everyday Data Literacies: The Case of Recreational Runners

Data literacy is typically described in a decontextualized manner, and many data literacy frameworks are detached from the “messy” realities of everyday life. In the present study, we selected a specific context (recreational running), specific data technology (self-tracking devices), and specific viewpoint (accuracy of data and analyses) to construct a substantial theory of (one form of) contextual data literacy. The research question is: How does recreational runners’ everyday data literacy appear in relation to the accuracy of measurements and analyses of self-tracking devices? Through an abductive analysis of qualitative survey data (N = 1057), we identified the data literacy actions that runners engaged with when assessing the accuracy of data in relation to their subjective needs, objectives, and life situations. The first-order data literacy actions (comparison and evaluation) captured how runners assessed and analyzed the accuracy of data, and they took place mainly in the immediate context of running. The second-order data literacy actions (acceptance, adaptation, and optimization) were the result of the runners’ reflections on what they sought from running and how they valued data, as well as their broader life situation.

Data by design: Shaping data-producing subjectivities through self-tracking

Recent research into self-tracking devices challenges dominant understandings that such technologies provide wearers with “mechanical objectivity” over their monitoring of their bodies, instead highlighting how the so-called “objectivity” is situated within broader social contexts. In this article we explore the social phenomena arising from the introduction of multiple sensor technologies (activity trackers, productivity monitoring software, and video cameras) in Hong Kong secondary school classrooms within the context of an interdisciplinary research project on digital citizenship. Using participant observation of social interactions between the school students and the research team amidst the implementation of self-tracking technologies in the classroom, our study documents the negotiations surrounding the generation of self-tracking data. It shows how shortcomings in self-tracking data produced call into question persistent expectations of objectivity attached to self-tracking devices, alongside hopes that their use would engender specific forms of engagement with data amongst students. In response, we propose the concept of “data producing subjectivities” as a complement to the existing concept of “situated objectivity.” Taken together, these concepts could contribute to scholarship beyond the realm of self-tracking, providing ways to more fully account for the co-constitutive nature of the production of data and personhood in the contemporary information era.

User types, psycho-social effects and societal trends related to the use of consumer health technologies.

The term consumer health technologies we use in this paper refers to fitness and health apps, wearables and other self-tracking devices that collect health-related data. Our paper aims to bridge the gap between the growing literature base of sociological research and ethical reflection on the (non-intended) effects of consumer health technology use on the psycho-social level, such as stress, responsibilization or a loss of intuitive sense for signs of health or illness. Special consideration should be given to vulnerable individuals, as the positive and negative effects of consumer health technology use may be unequally distributed. This perspective may help to guide policymaking and the responsible development of consumer health technologies. Using a narrative review approach, we refer to empirical and theoretical studies dealing with user types and effects related to the use of consumer health technologies. We provide an overview of consumer health technology user typologies and evidence of the unintended psycho-social effects of consumer health technology use. On this basis, we propose a user typology that may serve as a future tool for ethical reflection on negative side effects. Evidence of the potential negative side effects of consumer health technology use, as presented in the literature, is inconclusive due to the high diversity of consumer health technology users and the way they use consumer health technologies. Our proposed user typology aims to more comprehensively document the diversity of users by incorporating the way in which users identify with and use their self-tracked data, attitudes towards the new technology and social interactions via consumer health technologies, and the purpose and self-determinedness of consumer health technology use. More systematic and quantitative empirical research on the effects of consumer health technology use in diverse settings and with diverse user types is necessary to inform public health policy. In addition to evidence-based certification of medical consumer health technologies, more practical and flexible ways to protect users from side effects may have to be developed and adopted, especially regarding the increasing number of non-medical consumer health technologies.

Friend or foe? Can anthropomorphizing self-tracking devices backfire on marketers and consumers?

Friend or foe? Can anthropomorphizing self-tracking devices backfire on marketers and consumers?

Future Patient: Telerehabilitation of Patients With Heart Failure Empower Patients

Background Heart failure is one of the most common cardiovascular diseases that causes mortality, and patients’ participation in rehabilitation programs is often low. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Future Patient Telerehabilitation Program developed for patients with heart failure offered a new approach. The aim of the Future Patient program has been to increase the quality of life and educate patients to monitor any worsening of their symptoms. Patients used self-tracking devices for monitoring their physical activity, blood pressure, sleep, respiration, and pulse, with their data transmitted to a shared web platform (called the Heart Portal), which could be accessed by patients, their relatives, and health care professionals across sectors. Objective The aim of this paper is to determine whether the Future Patient Telerehabilitation Program has increased the quality of life of patients with heart failure and to empower them to manage their own disease. Methods A randomized controlled trial (n=140) was conducted. Data from the intervention group (n=70, 50%) on patient-reported outcomes were collected and analyzed using the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire and Spiegel Sleep Questionnaire. Semistructured interviews with 12 patients (n=6, 50% men and n=6, 50% women) were conducted and analyzed. Results The patients participating in the Future Patient program experienced a significant increase in clinical and social well-being as well as in quality of life. The patients participating in the program articulated their experiences in terms of the following themes: a sense of security and an increased sense of empowerment in managing their disease using the Heart Portal. The Heart Portal proved to be a valuable tool for remote monitoring and better communication with health care professionals across sectors. Conclusions Telerehabilitation of patients with heart failure can improve their quality of life and empower them to manage their own disease remotely.

Engaging with self-tracking applications: how do users respond to their performance data?

ABSTRACT Self-tracking devices and applications have become popular in recent years and changed user behaviour. Previous research has primarily focused on the adoption of self-tracking devices and their effects on self-assessment. As adoption increases, user engagement becomes prominent for the continuous use of the devices and the applications. In this study, we focus on user engagement with activity tracking applications, e.g., Fitbit Flex and Jawbone Up that offer data on user performance. We collected data from semi-structured interviews with 54 participants. We propose a process model comprising four stages which involve distinct user interactions with data: review, react, reflect, and respond. We advance research in this domain by the proposed process model that explicates user engagement in two cases: when the user encounters satisfactory or unsatisfactory results. In the latter case, we depict four response tactics when users are confronted with unsatisfactory results.

Digital Technography: A Methodology for Interrogating Emerging Digital Technologies and Their Futures

This article introduces “digital technography” as a methodology to interrogate and voice emerging digital technologies and their anticipated futures. I demonstrate, with reference to recent research on wearable self-tracking devices, digital food technologies, and platforms for work automation, how one can gain an understanding of these technologies by attending to the materials in which they are promoted; and actively engaging with them imaginatively and self-reflexively as a social scientist. This article outlines a digital technographic methodology centered around the three conceptual anchors of specification, valorization, and anticipation, all of which pertain to how a digital technology aims and perhaps even aspires to become a part of everyday life.

Determinants Influencing the Adoption of New Information Technology Supporting Healthy Life Style: The Example of Wearable Self-Tracking Devices

Purpose: The presented study aims to identify key factors affecting the adoption of wearable electronics in Czech women. The results of the study can give insight on how to design an optimized wearable self-tracking device. Methodology/Approach: The well-established Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework served as a baseline for research on key determinants of behavioral intention to use wearable self-tracking devices. Findings: The strongest factor was identified as the habit. The second strongest predictor affecting behavioral intention and use was the construct of performance expectancy. Personal health motivation, as a factor reflecting the nature of the subject examined, was the third strongest factor. The determinants of price value, effort expectancy, and social impact influence the adoption and use of these products. Facilitating conditions, personal inovativeness, personal control over diet and hedonic motivations did not play a significant role. Research Limitation/Implication: The tested sample included 808 interviewed women, but only from the Czech Republic. Scale already defined Eating control behavior as a measure of healthy lifestyle in terms of eating was the first usage in UTAUT 2 model. Originality/Value of paper: The study aims primarily to uncover the determinants of the usage of wearable electronics. Secondarily, it extends the theoretical framework of UTAUT2 by testing personal factors such as personal inovativeness, personal motivation to health, and personal control of eating as variables explaining behavioral intention and usage.

Barriers to and Facilitators of Using a One Button Tracker and Web-Based Data Analytics Tool for Personal Science: Exploratory Study.

BackgroundIndividuals’ self-tracking of subjectively experienced phenomena related to health can be challenging, as current options for instrumentation often involve too much effort in the moment or rely on retrospective self-reporting, which is likely to impair accuracy and compliance.ObjectiveThis study aims to assess the usability and perceived usefulness of low-effort, in-the-moment self-tracking using simple instrumentation and to establish the amount of support needed when using this approach.MethodsIn this exploratory study, the One Button Tracker—a press-button device that records time stamps and durations of button presses—was used for self-tracking. A total of 13 employees of an academic medical center chose a personal research question and used the One Button Tracker to actively track specific subjectively experienced phenomena for 2 to 4 weeks. To assess usability and usefulness, we combined qualitative data from semistructured interviews with quantitative results from the System Usability Scale.ResultsIn total, 29 barriers and 15 facilitators for using the One Button Tracker were found. Ease of use was the most frequently mentioned facilitator. The One Button Tracker’s usability received a median System Usability Scale score of 75.0 (IQR 42.50), which is considered as good usability. Participants experienced effects such as an increased awareness of the tracked phenomenon, a confirmation of personal knowledge, a gain of insight, and behavior change. Support and guidance during all stages of the self-tracking process were judged as valuable.ConclusionsThe low-effort, in-the-moment self-tracking of subjectively experienced phenomena has been shown to support personal knowledge gain and health behavior change for people with an interest in health promotion. After addressing barriers and formally validating the collected data, self-tracking devices may well be helpful for additional user types or health questions.

Whose data are they? Elementary school students’ conceptualization of data ownership and privacy of personal digital data

The proliferation of information technology has enabled the emergence of different types of smart technologies, such as digitally enhanced toys and self-tracking wearable devices. Even though the rapid global spread of such devices has raised concerns about privacy, little is known about how children perceive such risks, while the children’s voices on the topic are rarely heard. The broader goal of our work is to understand how children can be empowered through scaffolded inquiry experiences to reflect on their own use of smart, self-tracking devices and gain a deeper understanding of the digital infrastructure and the political economy of digital data. This study examined children’s awareness of their digital data and issues of online privacy. At the same time, we examined the construct of psychological ownership in relation to children’s personal digital data to further understand students’ disclosure practices. We report on data from 63 fifth and sixth grade students to investigate students’ awareness of how their tracked data could be used and their conceptualization of data ownership. To achieve this, we designed and implemented a learning module that employed the use of activity trackers by elementary school students. We collected data via individual pre- and post-implementation interviews, and group discussions during the implementations. Data were analyzed qualitatively using the theoretical lens of psychological ownership and frameworks of data literacy. Results suggest that students demonstrate ownership of self-tracked data, ignoring the shared ownership with other parties, but this is associated with their limited awareness of the complex infrastructure of the digital environment and the commercial exploitation of their personal digital data by others. Also, results showed that students employ a set of criteria to concede data ownership to others. Findings suggest that actions should be taken to help children develop a nuanced understanding of the data economy and its impact on themselves. This study provides directions for future research and can also inform efforts to design educational materials aiming to develop students’ understanding of online data privacy.

Fertility Awareness Apps, Bodily Self-Tracking Devices, and Gynecological Health Monitoring

Fertility Awareness Apps, Bodily Self-Tracking Devices, and Gynecological Health Monitoring

Move, eat, sleep, repeat: Living by rhythm with proactive self-tracking technologies

Abstract Proactive self-tracking is a proliferating digital media practice that involves gathering data about the body and the self outside a clinical healthcare setting. Various studies have noted that self-tracking technologies affect people's everyday modes of thought and action and stick to their lifeworlds because these technologies seek to promote “improved” modes of behaviour. We investigate how the specific devices and interfaces involved in self-tracking attract and prescribe rhythmicity into everyday lives and elaborate on how human bodies and technical systems of self-tracking interact rhythmically. We draw from new materialist ontology, combining it with Henri Lefebvre's method of rhythmanalysis and his notion of dressage. We employ a collaborative autoethnographical approach and engage with both of our personal fieldwork experiences in living with self-tracking devices. We argue that rhythmicity and dressage are fruitful analytical tools to use in understanding human–technology attachments as well as a variety of everyday struggles inherent in self-tracking practices.

The Impact of Mindset on Self-Tracking Experience.

Self-tracking technologies aim to offer a better understanding of ourselves through data, create self-awareness, and facilitate healthy behavior change. Despite such promising objectives, very little is known about whether the implicit beliefs users may have about the changeability of their own behavior influence the way they experience self-tracking. These implicit beliefs about the permanence of the abilities are called mindsets; someone with a fixed mindset typically perceives human qualities (e.g., intelligence) as fixed, while someone with a growth mindset perceives them as amenable to change and improvement through learning. This paper investigates the concept of mindset in the context of self-tracking and uses online survey data from individuals wearing a self-tracking device (n = 290) to explore the ways in which users with different mindsets experience self-tracking. A combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches indicates that implicit beliefs about the changeability of behavior influence the extent to which users are self-determined toward self-tracking use. Moreover, differences were found in how users perceive and respond to failure, and how self-judgmental vs. self-compassionate they are toward their own mistakes. Overall, considering that how users respond to the self-tracking data is one of the core dimensions of self-tracking, our results suggest that mindset is one of the important determinants in shaping the self-tracking experience. This paper concludes by presenting design considerations and directions for future research.

Digital Consumer Health: Negotiating Multiple Voices in the Clinical Consultation

In this paper, we explore what may happen when people who are ostensibly “well” bring data from digital self-tracking technologies to medical consultations. On the basis of a fictional case narrative, we explore how multiple “voices”, in a Bakhtinian sense of the term, inscribed in the self-tracking devices are activated, negotiated, evaluated and re-imagined in the context of care. The digital metrics “speak” precision, objectivity and urgency in ways that challenge conventional, normative understandings of doctors’ professional role and the patient-doctor relationship.Our theorizing is firmly grounded in our professional experience and informed by recent research on self-tracking, Mol’s research on the ways in which technology has become integral to medical care, Bakhtinian theory and medical professionalism, and it contributes to current professional debates regarding medical overuse and its potential to harm patients. Further research is needed to illuminate the consequences of digital self-tracking technologies for patient-professional consultations in practice.

Need for Uniqueness and Word of Mouth in Disruptive Innovation Adoption: The Context of Self-Quantification

People can now monitor and quantify their daily life activities through quantified-self products, such as self-tracking devices. These types of products are invading the market, and the reasons for their adoption must be understood. Word of mouth (WOM) plays a crucial role in the adoption of disruptive innovations. In line with the literature, this article demonstrates that quantified-self products are disruptive innovations that have distinct antecedents explaining why individuals use WOM. Hence, this article examines the need for uniqueness (NFU) and perceived values as drivers of satisfaction that in turn impact WOM. Data from a sample of 496 actual users of self-tracking devices were collected through an online survey. The results emphasize the positive impact of the NFU on satisfaction through utilitarian and hedonic values. We propose theoretical and managerial insights and suggest that companies must adopt a new perspective on disruptive innovations, particularly related to satisfaction and WOM, by considering the variables proposed in the research model.