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.