User Risk Perceptions and Privacy Attitudes towards Menopause Data Collection and Use

Menopause affects half of the world’s population directly and everyone indirectly. As the world’s population is ageing, more healthcare services are becoming digitised. People experiencing menopause seek online and digital help for various reasons. Menopause education, awareness, and research – including the usage and risks of menopause tech and data, are limited. In this work, we designed and conducted a large-scale online survey with 310 UK participants to investigate the experiences of women with menopause, the use of technology, and security and privacy perceptions and expectations regarding their data. We identify several factors influencing the use of menopause tech, including perceived benefits, community support, workplace, and healthcare. Users express concerns about misinformation and current data sharing practices associated with these technologies. Conditional consent for data access and sharing is prevalent, depending on the recipient and user control options. This research provides crucial empirical data and analysis on menopause tech use, security, and privacy while identifying user concerns and informing secure user-centric design and policy.