General Discussion 209 7 Implications for future research Recognition of problem situations To accommodate all emotional eaters, we need to explore how the virtual coach can optimally meet their needs for coaching and exercises. Consequently, further research is needed to tailor to specific problem situations, such as “experiencing cravings” and “after giving in to cravings”, as well as to target emotion dysregulation, in order to provide appropriate exercises and support. It is also necessary to consider whether there are other possible problem situations beyond “experiencing cravings” and “after giving in to cravings”. From tailoring to personalization We have applied tailoring to groups – the next step is personalization on the individual. With tailored delivery of coaching, support and assistance can be made more personal: applied to a group with similar characteristics. With tailoring, it becomes possible to apply coaching to a specific target audience, tailored to their characteristics and preferences. It is important to do further research on how to design the coach’s support facilities to serve distinct types of users depending on their level of knowledge and awareness of emotions and emotion-regulation skills. Continuation developing personas Additional research should be conducted to further developing the personas. We propose that by employing quantitative cluster analysis, such as silhouette clustering [69], we can create personas with enhanced uniformity and clarity in terms of personal profiles and backgrounds. This approach has the potential to bolster the robustness of the design.Future users of the virtual coach should recognize the problem situations, which are presented by personas and the characteristics that are related to emotional eating behaviours, and the events that may lead, or have led, to the problem situations. Recognition of personas should not be affected by lifestyle and socioeconomic status. Just-In-Time To tailor the output of the virtual coach and deliver it at the right time, so called just-intime support to the users might be applied. JITAI, the Just-In-Time Adaptive Intervention is an emerging technique that shows potential in delivering the right type/amount of online coaching, at the right time by adapting to an individual’s changing internal and contextual
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