Exploring Tailored Virtual Emotion Regulation Approaches for Individuals with Emotional Eating 151 6 (1) a need for insight in how to recognize and differentiate bodily signals associated with either emotions or food cravings, (2) a need for action plans that inspire alternative behaviour, when self-control difficulties are experienced during food cravings, and (3) a need for emotion regulation strategies that help to effectively regulate emotions like agitation, stress and anger. With the desire to meet the aforementioned needs and to provide guidance with deployment of a personalized virtual coach, a measurement tool was selected. The most used instrument to measure difficulties in emotion regulation (i.e., emotion dysregulation) is the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale [37]. The original DERS consists of 36 items distributed across six subscales measuring: (1) difficulties with accepting negative emotions or responding negatively to them (nonacceptance subscale), (2) difficulties with concentrating on and achieving a task when experiencing negative emotions (goals subscale), (3) difficulties with understanding and knowing the specific emotion one is experiencing (clarity subscale), (4) difficulties with being aware of or attending to one’s own emotional responses (awareness subscale), (5) difficulties with controlling impulsive behaviour when experiencing negative emotions (impulse subscale), and (6) an individual’s belief that there are limited options to effectively regulate one’s emotions once upset (strategies subscale). When placing the three needs of individuals with emotional eating in the context of the DERS subscales, the needs seem to relate best to three of the six subscales (Table 1). Firstly, the need for insight in bodily sensations to be able to recognize sensations associatedwith either emotions or food cravings [36] seems to reflect difficulties with being aware of or paying attention to emotional responses. Subsequently, it was expected that this need relates to items of the awareness subscale which measures awareness of one’s own emotions. Secondly, the need for action plans that inspire alternative behaviour when self-control difficulties are experienced seems to reflect difficulties with inhibiting impulsive behavioural responses. Therefore, it was expected that this need relates to items of the impulse subscale. Finally, the need for emotion regulation strategies to effectively regulate negative emotions (e.g., agitation, stress, and anger) relates to difficulties with effectively regulating one’s emotions once upset. It was expected that this need relates to items of the strategies subscale. Thus, as three of the six subscales of the DERS (i.e., awareness, impulse, and strategies) seem to reflect the three identified needs of individuals with emotional eating, it is worthwhile to explore if the DERS can be used as an instrument to screen individuals with emotional eating in the context of a virtual coach application.
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