Paper short abstract:

This communication discusses the contribution of the story completion method for studying the “usage before use” of AI-based health technologies. The contribution of this qualitative method is examined through a research project that gather ‘usage stories’ from people living with Parkinson's disease

Paper long abstract:

This communication discusses the use of the story completion method (Gravett, 2019; Watson & Lupton, 2022) to explore different applications of AI-based health technologies before their implementation in real-world settings. The contribution of this qualitative method is examined through a research project that gather ‘usage stories’ from people living with Parkinson's disease. To this end, we used story prompts, or story "stems", that depicted fictional patients interacting with three AI-based health technologies. Participants (n=147) were asked to imagine themselves as the protagonist and complete the stories (Lupton, 2021). Participants are required to draw upon their own values, experiences, and perceptions to make sense of the described scenario and create a meaningful narrative (Clarke et al., 2018). The narratives were analyzed using a story mapping technique (Braun et al., 2019). The story maps reveal three key moments in the 'usage trajectories': (1) the initial 'affective forces' (Lupton et al., 2022, Lupton, 2019) that prompt users to act; (2) the 'socio-technical arrangements' (Oudshoorn, 2011; Peine & Moors, 2015) that facilitate or hinder adoption and use; and (3) the anticipated outcomes or future uses. Story maps outline different ‘usage stories’ that provide insight into the conditions that facilitate users’ appropriation and integration of these technologies into their lives. This example serves as a starting point for discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the story completion method for studying the “usage before use” of AI-based health technologies.