Title: Designing for Diagnostic Self-Tracking

Advisor: James Fogarty

Supervisory Committee: James Fogarty (Chair), Sean Munson (HCDE), Julie Kientz (HCDE), Wanda Pratt (iSchool), and Anind Dey (GSR, iSchool)

Abstract: 

Diagnostic self-tracking is the practice of collecting and using data to understand and monitor one’s health. The rise of affordable sensors and apps has encouraged people to monitor various health indicators via self-tracking in an attempt to systematically explore potential causal relationships to try to answer questions about their health. However, research has shown that people often fail to answer the specific questions they have due to lack of domain expertise, experimental design skills, and support from tools. Existing tools generally support reviewing collected data over time or performing simple correlational analyses, which are often insufficient to determine causal relationships between variables.
 

My dissertation research will explore the design of diagnostic self-tracking tools in the context of chronic health management. In my prior research, I have developed a framework for designing tools that support such diagnostic self-tracking. I then adopted the framework to build TummyTrials, an app that supports patients with irritable bowel syndrome in determining their personalized food triggers. This work surfaced challenges and opportunities diagnostic self-tracking tools face in integrating with the day to day life of patients. For the next part of my dissertation, I propose expanding my work to the domain of end-stage liver diseases or cirrhosis, a condition which lacks any specialized self-tracking tools for patients. My dissertation will surface the challenges and opportunities of integrating diagnostic self-tracking tools in the at-home self-management of patients with different chronic conditions and contribute design recommendations towards the development of future tools.

Place: 
CSE 403
When: 
Thursday, September 6, 2018 - 14:00 to Thursday, March 28, 2024 - 18:28