Skip to main content

Table 6 Participants’ experiences of the emotion regulation skills training, n = 24

From: Emotion regulation group skills training: a pilot study of an add-on treatment for eating disorders in a clinical setting

Category

 

Description

n (%)

Example

Emotion regulation skills content

+

Interesting, important and helpful

14 (58.3)

“Good group with good aim which has made it easier for me to cope with my emotions, and understand and verbalise what I am feeling (most of the time)”

Difficult

2 (8.3)

“Difficult but fun to work with this at home”

Group format

+

Sharing and listening to each others’ experiences in a safe environment.

10 (41.7)

“There was a safe atmosphere in the group and one dared to share one’s experiences. Beforehand, I was scared of meeting the others and having to share experiences with them, but now I almost wish that there had been more opportunities to discuss with the others and exchange thoughts. It’s interesting to listen to others in the same situation as oneself and very comforting to feel that one is not alone with this…”

Preferring individual format

2 (8.3)

“I think it’s very difficult in a new group to talk about this when everyone has different backgrounds and difficulties. I think it would have given me more to do it individually in order for it to have the most effect. So that one in a different way could relate it to one’s everyday life”

Structure

+

Right amount of time and length

3 (12.5)

“Right amount of information in each session to be able to work on it. Number of sessions, pace and content has been good”

More sessions and time to practice

9 (37.5)

“…alternatively one could have had more sessions so that the information could have sunk in more and there would have been more time to practise on one’s own”

 

Too many and too long sessions

3 (12.5)

“Since the sessions are quite long, it sometimes felt a bit slow and one got a bit tired, difficult to concentrate”

Pedagogical aspects

+

Mixture of lectures, PowerPoint, exercises, discussion, film clips

8 (33.3)

“Good setup, partly with PowerPoint where you gave us an insight into what we were going to talk about and one gained knowledge. So as to tackle the subject oneself afterwards and to evaluate it in exercises, for example.”

+

Homework

4 (16.7)

“The discussions and homework were good because then one took in everything one had learnt in a better way into everyday life.”

More in depth discussion

4 (16.7)

“Could have been a bit more and a bit deeper knowledge”

Treatment as usual (TAU)

+

Incorporating the skills training in TAU

1 (4.2)

“Now it’s possible to complement the sessions with one’s regular treatment and therapy instead, which also works fine!”

Wrong timing of skills training

1 (4.2)

“It has been a lot to take in during five sessions, and as relatively newly diagnosed it has been a lot to digest”

Skills trainers

+

Validating, knowledgeable and active

16 (66.7)

“I like that they have been active and also done the homework, it shows that it is doable and that everyone can do it. It has been easy to ask questions and discuss things with them”

Lacking in knowledge

1 (4.2)

“Sometimes there were some questions that you didn’t really know how to answer, at least that’s what it felt like. Then it got a bit confusing. But most of the time you could answer and explain very well so that one understood”

  1. Note. Participants were specifically asked to write comments on the skills trainers. The other categories were created based on participants’ spontaneous written comments on what they appreciated (+) and suggested for improvement (−) concerning the skills training