About

Sean A. Munson is a Professor and the Associate Chair for Faculty & Research Development at the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) at the University of Washington. His specialization includes social computing, human-computer interaction, computer supported cooperative work, health and wellbeing technologies, and personal informatics. As a faculty member, he contributes to research that explores how social and technological systems can be designed to improve health, wellbeing, and social engagement. His work involves understanding the interactions between people and technology, with a focus on social computing and human-centered design. Munson's research aims to develop innovative solutions that enhance health and wellbeing through technology, emphasizing the importance of user-centered approaches in designing digital tools and systems. His contributions support the department's broader mission to advance human-centered design and engineering through interdisciplinary research and collaboration.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Public relations
• Engineering
• Social psychology
• World Wide Web
• Pedagogy
• Engineering ethics
• Medicine
• Human–computer interaction
• Sociology
• Computer Security
• Social Science
• Process management
• Knowledge management
• Internet privacy
• Applied psychology
• Gerontology
• Business
• Psychotherapist
• Psychiatry
• Clinical psychology
• Law

Selected publications

• Engagement in Digital Health Interventions: Open Questions for Research and Design

  2026-04-13

  articleSenior author

  Engagement as a concept can explain why Digital Health Interventions (DHIs) produce individual variance in outcomes, and sometimes limited effectiveness, especially in practice. However, previous literature on engagement across different domains (e.g., Psychology, Implementation Science, Human-Computer Interaction) yields disparate conceptualizations, research methods, design strategies, and measurement methods. Therefore, this workshop aims to: bring together a diverse group of researchers within the field of DHIs with an interest in engagement; provide an overview of how engagement has been used, in terms of concept, measures, and strategies; work towards a shared understanding of how engagement, with its diverse measures and strategies, can be leveraged to inform the design, development, and evaluation of meaningful DHIs. We welcome submissions either as a description of a use case that includes: how engagement was defined, measured, designed for by our participants, as well as their lessons learned; or as a short position paper describing their interest in the topic, future plans for measuring/designing for engagement, and current challenges. Our post-workshop plans aim to draw from this transdisciplinary collaboration to document lessons learned on how to employ engagement in DHI development, research and design.

  PublisherDOI

• The EMPOWER trial: Evaluating a home-based physical activity program (PAP) with the ExerciseRx digital platform vs. health education (HE) in people with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).

  Journal of Clinical Oncology · 2026-03-01

  article

  TPS881 Background: The NMIBC population is emblematic of older patients with cancer, with a high burden of frailty, sarcopenia, mobility impairment, and multimorbidity. “Exercise as Medicine” has emerged as a critical component of comprehensive cancer care with reported benefits across physical, mental, emotional, and social domains as well as oncologic outcomes. However, most adults with cancer do not meet recommended physical activity guidelines. We are conducting a randomized controlled trial comparing the efficacy of a home-based physical activity program (PAP) delivered via the ExerciseRx digital health tool to guideline-based Health Education (HE) with respect to 1) improvement of physical function and 2) impact on health-related quality of life, frailty, treatment-associated toxicity, and oncologic outcomes. Methods: We will recruit and randomize 100 patients in a 1:1 ratio to PAP or HE arms. The PAP arm will be provided with a 12-week personalized, home-based exercise program (~20-30 minutes, 4x weekly) via the ExerciseRx app as well as a weekly graded progression in personalized step count goals. The HE arm will receive printed education on guideline-based exercise recommendations in line with National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Survivorship for Healthy Living Guidelines. The ExerciseRx platform is comprised of 1) a provider dashboard embedded in the electronic health record, for recommending exercises and monitoring progress, and 2) a patient app, that delivers exercise plans and tracks exercise repetitions using native sensors in smart devices. Step count in both study groups will be tracked with Fitbit (Inspire 3). Eligibility criteria: English-speaking adults ( > 18 years) with a history of NMIBC who are willing and able to participate in walking and home exercise safely. The primary outcome of interest is the change in average daily Fitbit-assessed step count between baseline and 12 weeks, and 4-weeks after intervention completion (16 weeks). Secondary outcomes include change in Short Physical Performance Battery performance, patient-reported quality of life (EORTC-QLQ-C30, -NMIBC24), and frailty (Cancer and Aging Resilience Evaluation), Treatment burden and PRO-CTCAE v.6.0 assessed side effects, exercise-related AEs, and Resilience. Feasibility, usability, and app utilization metrics will be assessed. Enrollment will commence 2/2026. NCT pending.

  PublisherDOI

• Engagement in Digital Health Interventions: Open Questions for Research and Design

  Universität Zürich, ZORA · 2026-04-13

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Engagement as a concept can explain why Digital Health Interventions (DHIs) produce individual variance in outcomes, and sometimes limited effectiveness, especially in practice. However, previous literature on engagement across different domains (e.g., Psychology, Implementation Science, Human-Computer Interaction) yields disparate conceptualizations, research methods, design strategies, and measurement methods. Therefore, this workshop aims to: bring together a diverse group of researchers within the field of DHIs with an interest in engagement; provide an overview of how engagement has been used, in terms of concept, measures, and strategies; work towards a shared understanding of how engagement, with its diverse measures and strategies, can be leveraged to inform the design, development, and evaluation of meaningful DHIs. We welcome submissions either as a description of a use case that includes: how engagement was defined, measured, designed for by our participants, as well as their lessons learned; or as a short position paper describing their interest in the topic, future plans for measuring/designing for engagement, and current challenges. Our post-workshop plans aim to draw from this transdisciplinary collaboration to document lessons learned on how to employ engagement in DHI development, research and design.

  PublisherDOI

• Meetup: Mentorship in HCI × Health Research

  2026-04-13

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Exploring Feature Priorities and User Needs in Developing Virtual Study Assistants

  JMIR Formative Research · 2026-01-28

  articleOpen access

  This formative research explored health science researchers' perspectives on the development of an artificial intelligence-based virtual study assistant and identified 8 potential features and their priorities.

  PublisherDOI

• “It’s Always in the Back of My Mind”: Navigating sensitive health data amid reduced abortion rights in the United States

  ACM Transactions on Computing for Healthcare · 2026-01-20

  articleSenior author

  The HCI community has advanced the capabilities and availability of technology to support people's understanding of their health and to connect with others for health support. Weaponization of sensitive health data, however, necessitates greater emphasis on how this information might be used to create harm and how people navigate the associated risks. We examine how people in the United States altered their period-tracking and other technology use after the 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade. Through interviews with 22 participants from nine states, we found that most did not significantly change their period tracking despite privacy concerns—a pattern we explain through participants’ complex risk calculus, in which abstract legal threats competed with concrete benefits, switching costs, and the paradoxical role of tracking as both risk and protection against unwanted pregnancy. Uncertainty about legal implications and inaccessible privacy policies further complicated decision-making. While tracking practices remained largely unchanged, the overturn affected how participants made decisions regarding data privacy across technologies and spurred broader life changes. Many learned about the implications of the overrule from news articles and social media, highlighting the importance of journalism and timely, accurate, and comprehensive science communication.

  PublisherDOI

• Deploying and Examining Beacon for At-Home Patient Self-Monitoring with Critical Flicker Frequency

  2025-04-24

  articleOpen access

  Chronic liver disease can lead to neurological conditions that result in coma or death. Although early detection can allow for intervention, testing is infrequent and unstandardized. Beacon is a device for at-home patient self-measurement of cognitive function via critical flicker frequency, which is the frequency at which a flickering light appears steady to an observer. This paper presents our efforts in iterating on Beacon's hardware and software to enable at-home use, then reports on an at-home deployment with 21 patients taking measurements over 6 weeks. We found that measurements were stable despite being taken at different times and in different environments. Finally, through interviews with 15 patients and 5 hepatologists, we report on participant experiences with Beacon, preferences around how CFF data should be presented, and the role of caregivers in helping patients manage their condition. Informed by our experiences with Beacon, we further discuss design implications for home health devices.

  PublisherDOI

• Problem Solving Treatment for Depression: Development and Randomized Controlled Trial of an Internet-Based Support Tool Created Through Human Centered Design (Preprint)

  2025-08-29

  articleOpen access

  <sec> <title>BACKGROUND</title> While Problem Solving Treatment (PST) for depression is an effective psychotherapy in primary care settings, it is not widely used and clinician fidelity to key elements drops quickly following training. Human Centered Design (HCD) is an approach to understanding the needs of product users which can uncover obstacles through the lens of usability. </sec> <sec> <title>OBJECTIVE</title> We sought to identify usability challenges and implementation solutions for both clinicians who wished to deliver PST and their patients, create a solution using HCD methods, and pilot this solution. </sec> <sec> <title>METHODS</title> As part of the University of Washington ALACRITY Center (NIMH-P50MH115837), we applied the Discover, Design, Build, and Test (DDBT) human-centered design framework. Discover, Design, and Build stages included clinician and patient observations and interviews, and identification of themes and support needs for PST. PST-Aid was created as an internet-based app to overcome obstacles to PST. A Type III hybrid effectiveness/ implementation pilot trial of identified solutions was planned with emphasis on its possible implementation benefits. Randomization to training in PST versus the PST-Aid intervention was planned with a new set of providers other than those involved with HCD co-design activities. Usability was assessed through self-assessed survey. Time to clinician certification in PST, their ongoing fidelity to PST, and clinically significant improvement in patient depression severity (PHQ-9 scores) were the primary outcomes of interest. </sec> <sec> <title>RESULTS</title> A range of HCD methods and rapid prototyping cycles were carried out with co-design clinicians (9 undergoing PST training-as-usual and 10 experienced PST clinicians) and their patients (n = 4), which led to a web-based application that served to support and “scaffold” PST tasks as well as provide decision support for both providers and patients (PST Aid app). Usability was acceptable (SUS = 76), and utility was high based on qualitative assessments. In the Test phase, 11 clinical social workers were randomized to study conditions (7 PST Aid, 4 PST as Usual). All PST Aid clinicians were successfully certified as PST practitioners, while only 33% of PST as usual clinicians achieved certification. More clinicians used PST with their patients in the PST Aid group than those in PST as Usual throughout the study period (72% vs. 50%; p&lt;0.05). More participants in the treatment arm (PST Aid; 67%) had scores that improved to below 10 on the PHQ-9 than participants receiving PST as Usual, but this did not reach statistical significance (Fisher's exact test, p = .07). </sec> <sec> <title>CONCLUSIONS</title> We found that a human centered design approach to technology-based "scaffolding" can support the adoption, reach, and sustained fidelity of an evidence-based clinical intervention. Involving clinicians and patients in the design process may enhance the use and adoption of support tools. This pilot lays the groundwork for a large randomized hybrid effectiveness/implementation trial. </sec> <sec> <title>CLINICALTRIAL</title> ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03516513; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03516513 </sec>

  PublisherDOI

• Micro-narratives: A Scalable Method for Eliciting Stories of People’s Lived Experience

  2025-02-14 · 2 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Engaging with people’s lived experiences is foundational for HCIresearch and design. This paper introduces a novel narrative elicitationmethod to empower people to easily articulate ‘micro-narratives’emerging from their lived experiences, irrespective of their writingability or background. Our approach aims to enable at-scale collectionof rich, co-created datasets that highlight target populations’voices with minimal participant burden, while precisely addressingspecific research questions. To pilot this idea, and test its feasibility,we: (i) developed an AI-powered prototype, which leveragesLLM-chaining to scaffold the cognitive steps necessary for users’narrative articulation; (ii) deployed it in three mixed-methods studiesinvolving over 380 users; and (iii) consulted with establishedacademics as well as C-level staff at (inter)national non-profits tomap out potential applications. Both qualitative and quantitativefindings show the acceptability and promise of the micro-narrativemethod, while also identifying the ethical and safeguarding considerationsnecessary for any at-scale deployments.

  PublisherDOI

• Examining Researcher Experiences and Tensions Around Participant Engagement in Health HCI Research

  2025-04-25 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R21HS023654

  NIH · $297k · 2017

• UW ALACRITY Center for Psychosocial Interventions Research

  NIH · $32.0M · 2018–2028

• CAREER: Inspecting Personal Informatics: Reflection Practices to Unlock Value in Self-Tracked Data

  NSF · $592k · 2016–2023

Frequent coauthors

• Beverly B. Green

  Kaiser Permanente

  56 shared

• Yoshio N. Hall

  University of Washington

  40 shared

• Karen L. Margolis

  HealthPartners

  39 shared

• Jennifer B. McClure

  38 shared

• Clarissa Hsu

  Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute

  38 shared

• Julie A. Kientz

  University of Washington

  37 shared

• Kelly Ehrlich

  Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute

  36 shared

• James Fogarty

  University of Washington

  35 shared

Labs

• Human Centered Design & EngineeringPI

Education

• PhD, School of Information

  University of Michigan

  2012

• BS Engineering (Systems Design)

  Franklin W Olin College of Engineering

  2006

Awards & honors

• National Science Foundation Early Career Award
• UW College of Engineering Teaching Award (2015)
• College of Engineering Junior Faculty Award (2017)
• Intel PhD fellow