Application of three different coaching strategies for people with emotional eating 91 4 restriction, so any violation of this regime will cause them to be dissatisfied with their lack of discipline or steadfastness. An additional problem is that people with emotional eating eat out of sight of their social network. Obviously, emotional eating behaviour does not meet the norms of social eating behaviour [77-78], and due to feelings of shame people with emotional eating are not able to share their thoughts in a safe environment such as friends or family. A possible role for the virtual coach is to provide help restoring their relationship with food where eating is pleasant, and preferably with the companionship of friends and family. Preventing recurrence The majority of participants identified a need for practical advice on how to prevent the eating behaviour. They wanted solutions to how to anticipate and recognize signals when experiencing cravings. Participants pointed out that they have a need for distraction – what to do instead of eating. Research shows that different forms of distraction lead to changes in the desire to eat, but some activities such as watching television were associated with mindless eating behaviour and increased food intake [79]. During times of social interaction there was no urge to eat. According to Crockett [80], both proneness to boredomand emotion-regulation strongly correlatedwith the emotional eating variables. Participants’ suggestions included an action plan that can propose alternative activities, as well as a relapse prevention plan that provides the user with distracting thoughts and statements. In this way temptation is resisted and the impulse to eat suppressed. It helps the user avoid difficult situations and develop alternative habits. There is a large body of literature regarding relapse prevention plans in relation to addiction, as presented by Marlatt & Donovan [81]. Such a plan often serves as an extension to an existing therapy, like maintenance strategies as post-treatment for obesity [82]. The participants in this study may benefit from setting up their own prevention plan in the virtual coach. Bauer & Moessner [83] showed that it is certainly possible to offer technology-enhanced relapse prevention, even though its effectiveness has not yet been widely demonstrated. Ideally, the prevention plan should be in line with the chain analysis described above, in which users learn to recognize difficult situations and identify their own pitfalls. By using the coach they themselves would learn to recognize their own relapses. Regulating emotions Unlike the participants described above under “Gaining insight into emotions and the process” (those who suffer from the inability to express their emotions), a vast majority
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