Personal health data communication: techniques, tensions, and implications for design from a clinician perspective

Sarah Dunn; Tara Capel; Areti Manataki; Benjamin Bach

doi:10.1145/3772318.3790368

Personal health data communication: techniques, tensions, and implications for design from a clinician perspective

Sarah Dunn^*, Tara Capel, Areti Manataki, Benjamin Bach

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

This paper reports how clinicians explain personal health data to patients and the tensions which arise from this in practice, leading us to describe a set of implications for designing communication aids around personal health data. With the trend towards patient-centered care and shared decision making, it is crucial that patients understand their clinical data and respective implications during medical consultations. So, what strategies do clinicians currently use to ensure this? And how can these inform the development of successful patient communication aids? Through interviewing 19 healthcare professionals, we identify 57 techniques, painting a rich picture of current practices. However, we also note 9 tensions that arise when applying these techniques in reality; such as balancing transparency with disclosing data inappropriate for a patient’s current situation. Based on the techniques and motivated by these tensions, we present a set of considerations to inform the design of technological patient communication aids consistent with current clinical practice.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 2026 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI'26)
Editors	Nuria Oliver, David A. Shamma, Heloisa Candello, Pablo Cesar, Pedro Lopes, Alessandro Bozzon, Thomas Kosch, Vera Liao, Xiaojuan Ma, Valentino Artizzu, Fiona Draxler, Gustavo López, Anke V. Reinschluessel, Xin Tong
Place of Publication	New York, NY
Publisher	ACM
Number of pages	16
ISBN (Print)	9798400722783
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790368
Publication status	Published - 13 Apr 2026
Event	ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026) - https://chi2026.acm.org/, Barcelona, Spain Duration: 13 Apr 2026 → 17 Apr 2026 Conference number: 26

Publication series

Name	CHI conference proceedings
ISSN (Print)	2159-6468

Conference

Conference	ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026)
Abbreviated title	CHI 2026
Country/Territory	Spain
City	Barcelona
Period	13/04/26 → 17/04/26

Keywords

Health
Clinical
Empirical study
Communication
Techniques
Design

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Dunn, S., Capel, T., Manataki, A., & Bach, B. (2026). Personal health data communication: techniques, tensions, and implications for design from a clinician perspective. In N. Oliver, D. A. Shamma, H. Candello, P. Cesar, P. Lopes, A. Bozzon, T. Kosch, V. Liao, X. Ma, V. Artizzu, F. Draxler, G. López, A. V. Reinschluessel, & X. Tong (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2026 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI'26) Article 1336 (CHI conference proceedings). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790368

Dunn, Sarah ; Capel, Tara ; Manataki, Areti et al. / Personal health data communication : techniques, tensions, and implications for design from a clinician perspective. Proceedings of the 2026 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI'26). editor / Nuria Oliver ; David A. Shamma ; Heloisa Candello ; Pablo Cesar ; Pedro Lopes ; Alessandro Bozzon ; Thomas Kosch ; Vera Liao ; Xiaojuan Ma ; Valentino Artizzu ; Fiona Draxler ; Gustavo López ; Anke V. Reinschluessel ; Xin Tong. New York, NY : ACM, 2026. (CHI conference proceedings).

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title = "Personal health data communication: techniques, tensions, and implications for design from a clinician perspective",

abstract = "This paper reports how clinicians explain personal health data to patients and the tensions which arise from this in practice, leading us to describe a set of implications for designing communication aids around personal health data. With the trend towards patient-centered care and shared decision making, it is crucial that patients understand their clinical data and respective implications during medical consultations. So, what strategies do clinicians currently use to ensure this? And how can these inform the development of successful patient communication aids? Through interviewing 19 healthcare professionals, we identify 57 techniques, painting a rich picture of current practices. However, we also note 9 tensions that arise when applying these techniques in reality; such as balancing transparency with disclosing data inappropriate for a patient{\textquoteright}s current situation. Based on the techniques and motivated by these tensions, we present a set of considerations to inform the design of technological patient communication aids consistent with current clinical practice.",

keywords = "Health, Clinical, Empirical study, Communication, Techniques, Design",

author = "Sarah Dunn and Tara Capel and Areti Manataki and Benjamin Bach",

note = "Funding: This work was supported by the Medical Research Council [grant number MR/W006804/1]; ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026), CHI 2026 ; Conference date: 13-04-2026 Through 17-04-2026",

year = "2026",

month = apr,

day = "13",

doi = "10.1145/3772318.3790368",

language = "English",

isbn = "9798400722783",

series = "CHI conference proceedings",

publisher = "ACM",

editor = "Nuria Oliver and Shamma, \{David A.\} and Heloisa Candello and Pablo Cesar and Pedro Lopes and Alessandro Bozzon and Thomas Kosch and Vera Liao and Xiaojuan Ma and Valentino Artizzu and Fiona Draxler and Gustavo L{\'o}pez and Reinschluessel, \{Anke V.\} and Xin Tong",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the 2026 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI'26)",

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}

Dunn, S, Capel, T, Manataki, A & Bach, B 2026, Personal health data communication: techniques, tensions, and implications for design from a clinician perspective. in N Oliver, DA Shamma, H Candello, P Cesar, P Lopes, A Bozzon, T Kosch, V Liao, X Ma, V Artizzu, F Draxler, G López, AV Reinschluessel & X Tong (eds), Proceedings of the 2026 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI'26)., 1336, CHI conference proceedings, ACM, New York, NY, ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026), Barcelona, Spain, 13/04/26. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790368

Personal health data communication: techniques, tensions, and implications for design from a clinician perspective. / Dunn, Sarah; Capel, Tara; Manataki, Areti et al.
Proceedings of the 2026 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI'26). ed. / Nuria Oliver; David A. Shamma; Heloisa Candello; Pablo Cesar; Pedro Lopes; Alessandro Bozzon; Thomas Kosch; Vera Liao; Xiaojuan Ma; Valentino Artizzu; Fiona Draxler; Gustavo López; Anke V. Reinschluessel; Xin Tong. New York, NY: ACM, 2026. 1336 (CHI conference proceedings).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

TY - GEN

T1 - Personal health data communication

T2 - ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026)

AU - Dunn, Sarah

AU - Capel, Tara

AU - Manataki, Areti

AU - Bach, Benjamin

N1 - Conference code: 26

PY - 2026/4/13

Y1 - 2026/4/13

N2 - This paper reports how clinicians explain personal health data to patients and the tensions which arise from this in practice, leading us to describe a set of implications for designing communication aids around personal health data. With the trend towards patient-centered care and shared decision making, it is crucial that patients understand their clinical data and respective implications during medical consultations. So, what strategies do clinicians currently use to ensure this? And how can these inform the development of successful patient communication aids? Through interviewing 19 healthcare professionals, we identify 57 techniques, painting a rich picture of current practices. However, we also note 9 tensions that arise when applying these techniques in reality; such as balancing transparency with disclosing data inappropriate for a patient’s current situation. Based on the techniques and motivated by these tensions, we present a set of considerations to inform the design of technological patient communication aids consistent with current clinical practice.

AB - This paper reports how clinicians explain personal health data to patients and the tensions which arise from this in practice, leading us to describe a set of implications for designing communication aids around personal health data. With the trend towards patient-centered care and shared decision making, it is crucial that patients understand their clinical data and respective implications during medical consultations. So, what strategies do clinicians currently use to ensure this? And how can these inform the development of successful patient communication aids? Through interviewing 19 healthcare professionals, we identify 57 techniques, painting a rich picture of current practices. However, we also note 9 tensions that arise when applying these techniques in reality; such as balancing transparency with disclosing data inappropriate for a patient’s current situation. Based on the techniques and motivated by these tensions, we present a set of considerations to inform the design of technological patient communication aids consistent with current clinical practice.

KW - Health

KW - Clinical

KW - Empirical study

KW - Communication

KW - Techniques

KW - Design

UR - https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318

U2 - 10.1145/3772318.3790368

DO - 10.1145/3772318.3790368

M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 9798400722783

T3 - CHI conference proceedings

BT - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI'26)

A2 - Oliver, Nuria

A2 - Shamma, David A.

A2 - Candello, Heloisa

A2 - Cesar, Pablo

A2 - Lopes, Pedro

A2 - Bozzon, Alessandro

A2 - Kosch, Thomas

A2 - Liao, Vera

A2 - Ma, Xiaojuan

A2 - Artizzu, Valentino

A2 - Draxler, Fiona

A2 - López, Gustavo

A2 - Reinschluessel, Anke V.

A2 - Tong, Xin

PB - ACM

CY - New York, NY

Y2 - 13 April 2026 through 17 April 2026

ER -

Dunn S, Capel T, Manataki A, Bach B. Personal health data communication: techniques, tensions, and implications for design from a clinician perspective. In Oliver N, Shamma DA, Candello H, Cesar P, Lopes P, Bozzon A, Kosch T, Liao V, Ma X, Artizzu V, Draxler F, López G, Reinschluessel AV, Tong X, editors, Proceedings of the 2026 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI'26). New York, NY: ACM. 2026. 1336. (CHI conference proceedings). doi: 10.1145/3772318.3790368

Personal health data communication: techniques, tensions, and implications for design from a clinician perspective

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