We are pleased to present a research project that aims to explore the relationship between a woman’s menstrual cycle and her receptivity to just-in-time adaptive interventions. This pilot study seeks to investigate how a woman’s menstrual cycle stage and associated symptoms, including cyclical emotional changes, may impact her engagement and response to digital health interventions.

The menstrual cycle is a natural process experienced by women from an average age of 12.4 years until menopause, typically occurring between the ages of 44-51. This cycle, with an average duration of 28 days, consists of follicular and luteal phases accompanied by various hormonal fluctuations, emotional states, physiological variables, and changes in productivity.

Despite the importance of receptivity to digital health interventions for their effectiveness, the potential link between a woman’s menstrual cycle stage and her state of receptivity remains largely unexplored. This project aims to fill this research gap by investigating whether different stages of the menstrual cycle, along with associated symptoms, have an impact on a woman’s ability to receive and benefit from just-in-time adaptive interventions.

Participant Recruitment

Recruitment for the pilot study has concluded. If you are interested in participating in follow-up studies or other Digital Women’s Health studies please contact us: Prof. Dr. Marcia Nißen

Announcements

Garmin announces 2023 EMEA Research Grant winners

Fitrockr & Garmin announce 2023 EMEA Research Grant winners

OSF Study Protocol – Pre-Registration

Sou, D., Gruener, M. R., Bischof, A., Kowatsch, T., & Nißen, M. (2024). VOGUE – Influence of the Menstrual Cycle on Women’s Technology Usage. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/SZCG8

Publications

1. Sou, D., Krenböck, S., Gruener, M.R., Bischof, A., Kowatsch, T., Nißen, M., VOGUE: Influence of the menstrual cycle on technology engagement and notification receptivity, 1st Swiss Gender Medicine Symposium 2025, October 20-21, 2025. Bern, Switzerland. Poster presentation. [PDF]
2. Sou, D., Gruener, M.R., Bischof, A., Santhanam, P., Kowatsch, T., Nißen, M. (2024). VOGUE: Influence of the Menstrual Cycle on Technology Usage, 12th Annual International Society for Research on Internet Interventions (ISRII) Meeting, Limerick, Ireland, 2-6 June 2024, Abstract & Poster.

Related Work

1. Mishra, V., Künzler, F., Kramer, J.-N., Fleisch, E., Kowatsch, T., & Kotz, D. (2021). Detecting Receptivity for mHealth Interventions in the Natural Environment. Proc. ACM Interact. Mob. Wearable Ubiquitous Technol., 5(2), Article 74. https://doi.org/10.1145/3463492
2. Künzler, F., Mishra, V., Kramer, J.-N., Kotz, D., Fleisch, E., & Kowatsch, T. (2019). Exploring the State-of-Receptivity for mHealth Interventions. Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies, 3(4), 1-27, Article 140. https://doi.org/10.1145/3369805
3. Keller, R., Wangenheim, F. v., Mair, J., & Kowatsch, T. (2023). Receptivity to mobile health interventions. In N. Jacobson, T. Kowatsch, & L. Marsch (Eds.), Digital Therapeutics for Mental Health and Addiction (pp. 65-77). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-90045-4.00006-X
4. Pierson, E., Althoff, T., Thomas, D. et al. Daily, weekly, seasonal and menstrual cycles in women’s mood, behaviour and vital signs. Nat Hum Behav 5, 716–725 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01046-9
5. Shilaih M, Goodale BM, Falco L, Kübler F, De Clerck V, Leeners B. Modern fertility awareness methods: wrist wearables capture the changes in temperature associated with the menstrual cycle. Biosci Rep. 2018 Nov 30;38(6). https://doi.org/10.1042/bsr20171279
6. Goodale BM, Shilaih M, Falco L, Dammeier F, Hamvas G, Leeners B. Wearable Sensors Reveal Menses-Driven Changes in Physiology and Enable Prediction of the Fertile Window: Observational Study. J Med Internet Res. 2019 Apr 18;21(4). https://doi.org/10.2196/13404

Our study explores how a woman’s menstrual cycle stage and symptoms influence her receptivity to digital health interventions, aiming to develop personalized approaches for enhanced effectiveness.

Davinny Sou, Sophie Krenböck, Marc-Robin Grüner, Anja Bischof, Prof. Dr. Tobias Kowatsch, Dr. Marcia Nißen

Dr. Larissa Greive
Prof. Dr. Varun Mishra
Prabhakaran “Prabhu” Santhanam
Chang Siang Lim

June 2023 – December 2025