Exploring Tailored Virtual Emotion Regulation Approaches for Individuals with Emotional Eating 163 6 Furthermore, five mentioned that they learned to observe their physical sensations (“That you feel things sometimes if you pay attention to it.” (BS5)), or their emotions. Other participants got insights into what might cause their physical discomfort. The answers of two participants were related to poor self-care (“[Taking a step back] this is something that I regularly fail to do because of workload or busyness in the family. My chronic back pain and muscle complaints are probably related to this.” (BS4)). One answer was related to the impact of negative emotions: “That negative emotions also can lead to a lot of uncomfortable bodily sensations.” (BS8). However, five participants provided feedback about aspects of the body scan exercise they found less useful. One mentioned that they were unable to write down their physical sensations and identify its causes. Another participant mentioned that they had gained no new insights or skills from practicing with the body scan exercise. “I have no idea. I have no clue how this exercise can help me anyway.” (BS1). Another participant mentioned the need for more examples (“It would be good to provide an example under “other.” (BS8)). One participant shared: “I thought it was pretty vague that I had to indicate whether I thought a body part felt good or not. My stomach never feels good, but what does it matter?” (BS1). Lastly, one participant mentioned experiencing increased physical tension during the body scan exercise: “It is always like this and the more I focus on my body the more it starts to feel tense.” (BS1). Opposite action exercise In the group who practiced with the opposite action exercise (group B) the two remaining participants filled in the post-intervention questionnaires. One participant stated gaining insight about the interaction between behaviour and emotions: “Become aware of your behaviour and which emotion it comes from and what you can do differently.” (OAE1). Positive reframing exercise All five remaining participants in the group C reported that the exercise helped them to reflect either on what happened in specific situations or on their feelings (“You will start thinking a little deeper, thinking more consciously about how you feel and why you feel that way.” (PRE1)). Two participants emphasized reframing as a useful aspect of the exercise: “Practicing with reframing forces you to see positive aspects in negative things. I noticed that this was a pleasant thing to do and think that I will apply this more often when I experience setbacks.” (PRE2). Three answers illustrated broadening of reflection skills: “[I am] more aware of how I react in different situations.” (PRE1), “Paying attention to how you think and whether it can be different.” (PRE5) and “By sometimes waiting a bit more to hear what someone else has to say about the situation.” (PRE3).
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