Individual and Social Recognition

Abstract

This study investigates how people manage chronic migraine -- an illness characterized by unpredictable, intermittent breakouts in everyday life. Participants in our study must self-identify migraine symptoms, triggers, and effective coping mechanisms while also seeking social recognition and assistance from a social network during migraine attacks. We argue that the challenges in identifying and managing migraine as well as in communicating with clinicians and social networks arise in response to the patients' need to deal with the unpredictability and intermittency of the disease. We suggest technologies that, unlike current chronic care systems, enable patients with migraine and similar diseases to track a wide range of life events across intermittent time stamps and help make sense of subjective information. We argue that technologies should also help patients gain social recognition and assistance during breakouts. This work contributes to the growing body of knowledge in personal informatics and quantified-self research.