Examining Menstrual Tracking to Inform the Design of Personal Informatics Tools
Zotero / D&S Group / Top-Level Items 2018-08-02
Type
Journal Article
Author
Daniel A. Epstein
Author
Nicole B. Lee
Author
Jennifer H. Kang
Author
Elena Agapie
Author
Jessica Schroeder
Author
Laura R. Pina
Author
James Fogarty
Author
Julie A. Kientz
Author
Sean A. Munson
URL
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5432133/
Volume
2017
Pages
6876-6888
Publication
Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems . CHI Conference
Date
2017-5-2
Extra
PMID: 28516176
PMCID: PMC5432133
Journal Abbr
Proc SIGCHI Conf Hum Factor Comput Syst
DOI
10.1145/3025453.3025635
Accessed
2018-07-19 21:28:02
Library Catalog
PubMed Central
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.