Practices of self-tracking in infertility treatment: How bodily awareness is constituted

Matilde Lykkebo Petersen, Martina Skrubbeltrang Mahnke, Mikka Nielsen

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Abstract

Background: The femtech industry has grown extensively in recent years and in infertility treatment, the practice of digitally self-tracking menstrual cycles has become a popular way for patients to manage, monitor and deal with issues of fertility. Aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate how patients’ self-tracking practices affect bodily awareness.
Methods: The study draws on 20 qualitative interviews with 12 patients, recruited through a private clinic in Copenhagen, Denmark. Interviewees were selected based on the criteria: age, treatment type and length, and engagement in self-tracking practices. All interview material was thematically coded.
Findings: The analysis results in three main themes: 1) self-tracking as a tool for knowledge creation and planning purposes, 2) self-tracking as body-awareness maximizing process, and 3) self-tracking as a professional and emotional process.
Discussion: Through self-tracking practices, the menstrual cycle becomes a multiple object, interpreted and acted upon in diverse ways – all of which, however, aim to optimize conditions for conception.
Conclusions: Self-tracking in infertility treatment affects bodily awareness in three distinctive ways: 1) it creates emotional ambivalence, 2) it places patients in an ambivalent position towards health professionals, and 3) it creates ambivalence towards patients’ understanding of the menstrual cycle.
OriginalsprogDansk
TidsskriftQualitative Health Communication
Vol/bind1
Udgave nummer2
ISSN2597-1417
StatusUdgivet - 6 jul. 2022

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