Chapter 6 172 size and the large dropout in the current study has produced these results. While only minor changes in the expected directions were observed, participants clearly indicated which aspects contributed positively for them. It is important to explore these valuable starting points to further improve the tailoring of emotion regulation exercises for individuals with emotional eating, to meet specific emotion dysregulation. Finally, it is noteworthy that 43% of participants have never consulted a dietitian. It is quite possible that they rely on their own knowledge and experience around dieting and are unaware of the potential added value of a dietitian, such as, for example, prescribing a diet so that they eat enough and whole foods throughout the day. In this way, a dietitian could be of added value for individuals with emotional eating, but because this group is ashamed of their eating behaviour, they are not likely to seek help. Providing online support could potentially remove obstacles in this regard. Strengths and limitations A strength of the current study is the fact that it explored emotion regulation exercises in an online format. Participants reported positive experiences with it. This is threshold lowering because due to feelings of shame, individuals with emotional eating often are at distance from care (Evans) [82]. Another strength is the fact that participants scored high on emotional eating behaviour (Memo=3.48), corresponding to those of the emotional eater’s norm-group of obese women with ages between 21 and 40 years [60]. A limitation of the study is the fact that participants were asked their opinions about the online exercises at a late stage in the study. The open-ended questions were only asked “post-intervention” (T2), whereas more information could have been retrieved if the same questions had been asked at the start and during the study period. A large number of participants dropped out early and the reason for this is unknown. It is particularly important to involve end users throughout the development process so that any problems in understanding or performing the exercises are recognized and resolved in a timely manner. Despite the fact that a pilot study was conducted, little feedback was received in regards to the problems experienced by the participants. Allocation of participants Another limitation is that, in contrast to what was expected, the allocation of participants based on specific emotion regulation difficulties resulted in two instead of three significantly different intervention groups. Because of this, group B was particularly small
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