Utforska egenmonitoreringspraktiker hos äldre vuxna med hjärt-kärlsjukdom för att utforma LLM-baserad datasensgöring

Self-tracking technologies such as wearable devices and mobile health apps have become part of everyday health management for many people. For older adults living with cardiovascular disease (CVD), these tools offer potential support for staying active and maintaining independence. However, the data they generate often feels emotionally overwhelming or difficult to interpret. This study explores how older adults with CVD make sense of their physical activity data and reflects on how these practices can inform the design of Large Language Model (LLM)-based tools that aim to support such data sense-making. A seven-day diary study followed by in-depth interviews was conducted with eight older adults between the ages of 64 and 82, all diagnosed with CVD. The interview data was analyzed using inductive thematic analysis, which resulted in the development of four key themes. First, participants experienced emotional ambivalence towards health data, where reassurance and stress often coexisted. Second, they gradually developed a sense of ownership over their health narratives by interpreting data on their own terms. Third, they used tracking data as objective evidence to guide personal decision-making. Fourth, they valued subjective bodily sensations over numerical outputs when those conflicted. These themes reflect the complex, situated ways older adults engage with digital health tracking tools. Based on these findings, this thesis outlines design implications for LLM-based tools aimed at supporting older adults’ sensemaking practices. The proposed directions include enabling emotionally responsive feedback, reinforcing personal agency and autonomy, offering data-driven guidance tailored to individual needs, and reflecting embodied experiences in data interpretation. Future LLM-based data sensemaking tools should not only be intelligent but also personalized and emotionally attuned to older adults’ lived realities.