Chapter 6 164 Lastly, two participants’ answers referred to gained insights on how to deal with negative events. One specifically mentioned the skill to recognize positive aspects in negative situations, where another mentioned the skill to reevaluate the situation by distancing oneself from the situation “Take a step back from the situation for one moment [...] and review it.” (PRE4). However, three participants felt that the recurrence of practice moments was too frequent: “It is not every day that you encounter an unpleasant event, at one point I found it difficult to think of a situation.” (PRE2). In line with this, one participant reported that the exercise was too extensive for some situations. Research question 2: what kind of suggestions for improvement do participants have experiencing the three tailored exercises? Body scan Two participants mentioned a general need for tips regarding emotion-regulation. One participant specifically mentioned the need for help with dealing with positive or negative feelings: “[...] what helps with holding on to positive feelings or to release negative feelings in a healthy way.” (BS3). Where one participant suggested adapting the schedule of the exercise to a set time point each day, another one suggested the opposite: “I have done the exercise when I was resting, [or] had time for it. But in hindsight it would also have been useful to do this at any time in between, even at a hectic or emotional moment, to gain insight into how I physically react to my emotional state at that particular moment.” (BS4). The latter participant suggested collecting real time data at varying time points. Regarding the order of the exercise, one participant suggested to reverse the exercise by first identifying the emotional state and then naming the physical sensation that comes with it (“So reverse the exercise, as it were.” (BS4)). Three answers were related to supplementing existing parts of the body scan exercise, like adding more emotions to the list of emotions, providing examples under “other causes”, adding a picture of the lower back and shoulder blades. Other suggested adaptations were related to the schedule, order, and duration of the body scan exercise, and adding a guided body scan. One participant suggested to make sure that the exercise does not take too long, keeping it at 25-30 minutes maximum: “That it [the body scan exercise] can take too long, which causes me to lose my attention and concentration.” (BS6). The same participant emphasized the importance of human contact: “It is also nice to just talk about the difficulty you experience. I do not have any family or friends to turn to. Mindfulness alone is not enough.” (BS6). Positive reframing One participant experienced a lack of variation during the two-week training protocol (“I
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjY0ODMw