Exploring Tailored Virtual Emotion Regulation Approaches for Individuals with Emotional Eating 173 6 in sample size and the current study was unable to describe scientifically relevant effects of the opposite action exercise. Due to its explorative nature, the current study did not include a control group without any online exercises. Therefore, the current study cannot assure that found effects would not also occur without the online tailored interventions. Dropout A remarkable phenomenon of the current study is the high dropout rate, from 80 participants at baseline (T0) to 15 participants at post-intervention (T2). On one hand, the online character of both the sampling strategies and the two-week training protocol can be seen as an important strength of the current study as it might have tackled one of the personal barriers for both seeking and completing face-to-face treatment in adults with emotional eating behaviour and overweight or obesity, namely: fear of stigma and shame [83]. This fear of stigma and shame could also explain why many participants in the current study (43.8%) have never had any contact with a dietitian before. However, the dropout in the current study was high and must be noted as an important limitation. At the end of the two-week training protocol dropout rates ranged from 60.0% for group B to 80.5% for group A, and 85.3% for group C. Overall, studies show a low adherence for internet-based interventions [84] and e-therapy [85] and the dropout rates in this study are similar to previous internet intervention dropout rates. A wide array of factors might have influenced participants’ withdrawal. Since the departing participants were not interviewed about their leaving, it is not known why they stopped participating. Reasons could be the noticeable participant burden of practicing every other day for +/- 15 minutes per session. The duration and schedule of the exercises was too extensive to adhere to in daily live. There has been an increase in boredom due to the lack of variation provided in exercises. Some participants did not (fully) understand the assignment. It might also have been the case that participants did not feel like being confronted with themselves repeatedly. Finally, participants may have picked up the desired knowledge and left. Annoyance arose about the amount of email reminders (eight in total) across the two-week training protocol. Participants suggested scheduling the exercise at varying time points in the day. They also indicated that the recurrence of practice moments was too close together. These aspects may also have played a role in the high dropout rates. Future research Based on the study findings and literature of Murray and Vickers [78] and Tihanyi et al. [68] it is recommended for future research to study the supplementation of the body scan
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