Understanding and Designing Technologies for Family Health Routines: Supporting Children in the Digital Age.

Child health and well-being are declining in the U.S. with decreases in physical activity and preventive medical visits [19] and increases in child anxiety and depression, and especially since COVID-19. Children’s health-related routines are developed and maintained within families to ensure that health-enhancing behaviors occur. In middle childhood, children have the capacity to be involved in tracking and planning routine health behaviors. However, technologies for family routines do not typically involve children’s input. Additionally, children, parents, and researchers disagree on the extent to which technology should be a part of children’s routines. Thus, it is important to study the role of technology in children’s routines and the extent to which they want autonomy support. I apply a theoretical perspective that frames family routines as a form of collective behavior that renders health-related behaviors automatic, and that rely upon artifacts to prompt such automatic behaviors (e.g., teeth brushing). The dissertation uses an interview study and participatory design sessions with child-parent dyads to explore the nature of children’s health-related routines in the digital age to better understand: (1) the role, if any, technology plays in family routine development, maintenance, and performance, (2) the impact of these uses on child health and well-being, (3) how parenting style influences these uses, (4) how children want technology to support their health and well-being, and (5) the extent to which children want technology to support autonomy in the development, maintenance, and performance of family routines. This dissertation will inform the design of family informatics tools that can provide autonomy support, which can positively influence child health and well-being.