Exploring Tailored Virtual Emotion Regulation Approaches for Individuals with Emotional Eating 159 6 their emotions. The body scan exercise was derived and adapted from an observational exercise described in the study protocol of Brevers [38] and required participants to indicate per bodily region (13 in total) whether it felt pleasant (including neutral) or unpleasant based on a topographical self-report method [56]. Subsequently, participants were challenged to think about what could be causing the pleasant/unpleasant sensations in their body, with answer options ranging from: (1) bodily/physiological processes (e.g., hunger, thirst, muscle soreness, disease symptoms), (2) an emotion, or (3) other. A text entry box was provided for each answer option to offer participants different answering options. These answers were not stored. Opposite action The opposite action exercise is aimed at helping individuals to identify action urges associated with their emotions (e.g., anxiety motivates people to avoid the situation) and inviting them to act the opposite (e.g., approach the situation) [34]. The opposite action exercise was derived and adapted from the studies of Rizvi et al. [40], and Ben-Porath et al. [39]. During each session participants were asked to describe or identify: (1) a situation on which they wanted to reflect, (2) their behaviour in that situation, (3) an emotion that could have motivated their behaviour, and (4) an opposite action that could have helped to regulate the emotion. Lastly, participants were encouraged to apply the opposite action in practice and observe changes in their emotional experience. The opposite action exercise was accompanied by a list of emotions, emotion-specific action urges and opposite actions drafted using the DBT Skills Training Manual (Emotion Regulation Handout 11) [57] and the Emotions Motivate Actions Information Handout of Psychology Tools [58]. The latter was also used to design a short introductory exercise (in which the participant could "drag" behavioural description to the appropriate emotion), which participants could do to practice with linking action urges to specific emotions before starting with the exercise. Positive reframing The positive reframing exercise was aimed at encouraging individuals with emotional eating to find positive aspects in negative or stressful events as a strategy to regulate emotions such as anger and stress. The positive reframing exercise was derived and adapted from the study of Ranney et al. [42] and required participants to: (1) describe an unpleasant event on which they wanted to reflect, (2) describe their thoughts and feelings evoked by the unpleasant event, (3) Lastly, participants were challenged to think of other possible explanation(s) for what happened, find positive aspects in the unpleasant event, find things they could learn from the unpleasant event, and/or describe how this event might be helpful for them.
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