Exploring Tailored Virtual Emotion Regulation Approaches for Individuals with Emotional Eating 171 6 T2. There was also minimal allocation to Group B, so results could not be retrieved. High dropout rate may have caused the measured effects to be small. It was expected that based on three varying emotion regulation difficulties, measured by DERS, three separate groups of individuals with emotional eating could be distinguished. Analysis revealed that two groups of individuals with emotional eating (A. body scan and C. positive reframing) significantly differed on all emotion related variables at baseline. This finding emphasizes the importance and feasibility of developing tailored interventions for this group. However, considering participants’ feedback expressing their preference for different exercises, tailoring interventions may limit their access to a variety of options. To address this, it could be beneficial to offer a broader range of exercises that target a specific difficulty in emotion regulation. A third group (B. opposite action), based on difficulties with inhibiting impulsive behavioural responses, could not be distinguished. Compared to the other groups, few people were found for this pattern (n=5) and the pattern did not significantly differ from group A on any of the baseline variables and from group C only on one of four baseline variables. Due to the particularly low sample size in group B throughout the two-week training protocol (nT0= 5, nT1= 2, nT2= 2), the current study was unable to describe scientifically relevant results for the opposite action exercises. Subsequently, tailoring the future virtual coach based on this emotion regulation difficulty should be omitted and it is suggested to provide all individuals with emotional eating with an impulse control exercise complementary to their tailored exercises. Literature suggests that it is important to consider impulsivity-related personality traits for assessments and for treatment [79]. Paying attention to personality traits can improve clinical assessment, suggest points of intervention, and help tailor prevention and treatment approaches [80-81]. As Gerlach et al. state “It is meaningful to identify subgroups of patients for whom specific treatment options need to be developed, such as measures for strengthening self-control skills” [81, p.33]. Quantitative results of the current study showed that the online body scan and positive reframing exercise may have contributed to an increase in positive affect and decrease in negative affect and overall emotion dysregulation within a sample of individuals with emotional eating. This study revealed small, but no significant changes in the expected directions. The changes did not reach statistical significance. Therefore, these small effects should be replicated in other samples, since we cannot rule out that the sample
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