Quantifying the quantified self: A study on the motivation of patients to track their own health

by | Nov 15, 2013 | Research Publications

Author(s):

  • Gimpe, Henner
  • Nißen, Marcia
  • Görlitz, Roland A.

Abstract:

A new generation of patient-driven healthcare information systems (HIS) is emerging to advance traditional healthcare services and empower patient self-responsibility. Pro-fessional approaches to develop or improve HIS exist alongside evolving individual and community-shared approaches where patients take responsibility for their health data and health. Health Social Networks and the Quantified Self community are examples for such patient-driven initiatives. They inherently focus on empowering self-determination and responsibility. The success of future HIS relies – at least partially – on their engi-neers’ and developers’ capability to understand and use impulses from their respective target groups. The present study on self-tracking motivations aims to shed light on what drives people to track themselves. To this end, we conducted an exploratory survey with 150 self-trackers and developed a Five-Factor-Framework of Self-Tracking Motivations. The framework includes an inventory of five factors and a psychometrical scale of 19 items to measure individual drivers for self-tracking.

Document:

https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2013/proceedings/HealthcareIS/3/

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