Preferences for coaching strategies in a personalized virtual coach for emotional eaters 115 5 Design Introduction study and personas An experimental vignette study4 (2 x 3 design) was carried out. The vignettes were used as a method of presenting the personas that depicted the two proto-typical problem situations for emotional eaters: a ‘experiencing cravings’, when experiencing negative emotions and distress; b ‘after giving in to cravings’, undergoing feelings of disappointment, anger, shame and disgust. The vignettes subsequently produced one of three pre-defined coaching strategies: Validating, Focus-on-Change, and a Dialectical respons [22]. Recruitment To recruit participants, an invitation to participate was sent out to all dieticians of a particular franchise organization. They forwarded this request to their group of clients. A hyperlink in the email message directed the participants to an online survey (available on request). The clients were under treatment with the dieticians for weight reduction and lifestyle improvement. The dieticians asked their clients if they wanted to participate in a study on emotional eating. Those who answered affirmatively were forwarded the invitation to this study by e-mail. Participants Adult women with self-proclaimed emotional eating difficulties. They had been selected by the dieticians with whom they were under treatment. 109 respondents signed up in Qualtrics5; 80 also started filling out a set of self-report instruments; 62 completed all the questionnaires. It is not known why dropouts left the study before completion. Participants answered questions about the personas presented. They were asked to what extent they identified with the personas given – ‘experiencing cravings’ (Anita) and ‘after giving in to cravings’ (Lisanne) and which coaching strategies they preferred. Participants were then subjected to a series of questionnaires to learn more about their personality, well-being, and affect in order to identify possible relationships between 4 Vignettes may be used for three main purposes in social research: to allow actions in context to be explored; to clarify people’s judgements; and to provide a less personal and therefore less threatening way of exploring sensitive topics. Retrieved at https://sru.soc.surrey.ac.uk/ Social Research, issue 25. 5 Qualtrics is an online survey tool. https://www.qualtrics.com/uk/
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