Constructing Deserving Patients: An exploration of self-tracking with high blood pressure using discourse analysis

Abstract

Wearable self-tracking devices are increasingly being used to manage high blood pressure (HBP). While self-tracking technologies (STT) have been praised for their potential to revolutionize health care, many authors have criticized self-tracking for perpetuating healthist ideals, little research has investigated how these health discourses are reproduced in users’ accounts of self-tracking. As such, the current research seeks to understand: 1) how STT users with high blood pressure understand what STT can do for them, and 2) how STT users with high blood pressure are positioned in their talk. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 STT users with HBP. A discourse analysis revealed that participants’ constructions of self-tracking allowed them to avoid being positioned as moral failures due to their chronic conditions and take up a deserving patient subject position instead. This thesis demonstrates the complex ways in which participants engaged with their devices and their data.