Decoding health data when you’re not sick

Name of applicant

Sne Scott Hansen

Title

PhD Fellow

Institution

Oxford University, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences

Amount

DKK 1,100,000

Year

2024

Type of grant

Visiting Fellowships at University of Oxford

What?

People track their health when they are not sick – but why and how do they do this? One case in point is continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) which are usually used by people with diabetes but have begun to commercialize beyond diabetes for general health and well-being. This project studies how people without diabetes interpret their CGM data and asks what the wider implications of this trend are.

Why?

Many people engage in proactive health tracking. Such trends reflect a data-intensive age where digital technologies increasingly datafy the body and drive a narrative of the need to track your health, even if you are not sick. This raises questions about the evolving role of personal tracking data in managing health and well-being and about the distinction between being a patient and non-patient.

How?

The project takes a communication approach to studying how people without diabetes interpret their CGM data. This means the focus is on relational exchanges and interpretations of information and how they shape humans and societies. Via interviews and data walk-throughs, it contributes empirical knowledge about potential alternative (mis)understandings arising when (non)patients decode CGM data.

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