Table 4 Subgroups of future users sorted by type of awareness, combined with potential interventions of the virtual coach
Subgroups of users | Possible intervention “when experiencing cravings” | Possible intervention “after emotional eating” |
|---|---|---|
1. Is unaware of emotions | Gaining insight into emotions and the process: how to stop automatic behaviour; monitoring emotions and analyzing the cause-and-effect chain with the emotion analyzer [50] | A new view on “wrong eating behaviour”: restoring the relationship with food of people with emotional eating |
2. Is aware of presence of emotions but unaware of need for emotion-regulation | Preventing recurrence: relaxation (how to release the emotion; distraction); replacing eating with other activities | Coaching strategies: adjusting one’s self-image; validating emotions |
3. Is aware of emotions and of need for emotion-regulation | Regulating emotions: learning to endure distress; nudging to think again | Expelling pessimism: cognitive restructuring; fighting pessimism and negativity bias. |