Exploring Tailored Virtual Emotion Regulation Approaches for Individuals with Emotional Eating 155 6 Participants Using convenience sampling, 80 participants with self-proclaimed emotional eating difficulties have been recruited. The questionnaire on eating behaviour DEBQ-E [49] was filled in at T0 (pre-intervention; Memo=3.48, SD=.64, range 1.62-4.92). Measuring with the DEBQ-E allowed us to properly check whether we reached the target population. Participants were recruited through sending out an invitation: (1) to clients of two dietitian practices with a treatment program for people with overweight or obesity (Centrum Leefstijl en Zorg, CleZ, and DieetZorg), (2) to clients of an outpatient clinic, dietetics department (Nij Smellinghe Hospital); (3) to participants from the study of Dol et al. [36], who indicated to be willing to participate in follow-up research; (4) through an online newsletter from the Dutch Patient Association for Eating Disorders (WEET), and (5) on various social media outlets (i.e., a private Facebook group “Emotie eten”; an online forum for people with eating difficulties “Proud2Bme”; story mentioning’s on the Instagram Pages of six Dutch eating coaches). The following inclusion criteria were used: 1) age of 18 years or older; 2) experience with emotional eating difficulties (DEBQ-E); 3) sufficient knowledge of the Dutch language. The participants were not paid or otherwise rewarded. Materials Emotional eating behaviour Emotional eating behaviour was assessed using the Emotional Eating scale of the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ-E) [49]. The scale contains 13 items about emotional eating with four items about dealing with eating in response to diffuse emotion and nine items about dealing with eating in response to clearly labeled emotions. Each item was rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 “never” to 5 “very often”. Scores on the DEBQ-E were comprised by dividing the sum of the items scored by the total number of items [16]. The emotional eating scale showed good internal consistency in both the original validation (α = .94) and in the current study (α = .86). Positive and negative affect Positive and negative affect were measured using the International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form (I-PANAS-SF) [50]. The period over which the participants had to give their self-assessment was "the past week". It is a 10-item questionnaire that consists of five positive and five negative emotions. Each emotion was rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 “very slightly” to 5 “very much”. The positive emotions are alert, inspired, determined, attentive, and active. The negative emotions are upset, hostile, ashamed, nervous, and afraid. The Dutch translations of these emotions were derived from a Dutch version [51] of the original
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