Phenomenology and empowerment in self-testing apps

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Health Psychology
• Sociology of Health

Background:

• Self-testing applications, a subset of mobile health (mHealth), are frequently promoted as empowering tools.
• However, the precise mechanisms and meaning of empowerment conveyed by these apps remain unclear.
• Existing conceptualizations of empowerment in health promotion and feminist theory present limitations when applied to individually used self-testing apps.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically examine two contrasting conceptualizations of empowerment: one from health promotion/mHealth and another from feminist theory.
• To demonstrate the challenges in applying these traditional models to individually used self-testing apps.
• To propose a novel, phenomenologically-informed conceptualization of empowerment realizable through self-testing apps.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of existing literature on empowerment in health promotion, mHealth, and feminist theory.
• Application of critical phenomenology to deconstruct the concept of empowerment.
• Theoretical exploration of how self-testing apps can foster a shift in users' being-in-the-world.

Main Results:

• The health promotion/mHealth model of empowerment, focused on individual internal states, risks paternalism and over-responsibilization.
• The feminist model, emphasizing structural and collective change, struggles with individual app-based application.
• A phenomenological approach reveals empowerment as a "shift in being-in-the-world," integrating internal and external factors.

Conclusions:

• Neither purely internal nor purely external approaches adequately capture empowerment through self-testing apps.
• Empowerment can be understood as a phenomenological "shift in being-in-the-world" facilitated by these technologies.
• This revised conceptualization addresses criticisms of prior models and offers a realizable framework for mHealth empowerment.