Measuring Emotion Regulation Skill Use During Treatment: A Promising Methodological Approach

Abstract

Emotion regulation has become ubiquitous in the study of psychopathology and a growing number of treatment outcome studies are collecting data on emotion regulation skill use. However, traditional measures of emotion regulation fail to capture important nuances in emotion regulation processes, their relationship to psychopathology, and how individuals use emotion regulation skills over time and across contexts. Novel methodologies are particularly needed for measuring emotion regulation in the context of treatment studies. In this article, we discuss a proposed methodology, the combination of ecological momentary assessment (EMA), and single-case experimental design (SCED), for measuring emotion regulation strategy use in the context of treatment outcome studies. To inform this discussion, we provide a brief overview of common approaches to assessing emotion regulation skill use in the context of treatment outcome research. We then describe the utility of intensive data capture (EMA) in the context of idiographic treatment studies (SCED), present a case study to illustrate the different uses of data collected through EMA in the context of a SCED study, and discuss considerations for implementing this method in clinical practice.

Less is more: Decreasing the frequency of maladaptive coping predicts improvements in DBT more consistently than increasing the frequency of adaptive coping

“…Although there is some overlap in the constructs of maladaptive and adaptive coping with the clinical outcomes measured here (e.g., the maladaptive strategy "got mad at the people or things that caused the problem" and the interpersonal item "I lose my temper too easily"), the outcomes measured here tend to reflect beliefs about oneself (e.g., "My feelings of distress are not acceptable"), one's capacities (e.g., "When I'm upset, I have difficulty getting work done") or behaviors that are distinct from adaptive or maladaptive coping (e.g., "I break or spill things because of carelessness"). Future researchers are encouraged to collect more intensive data using measures of strategy use and distinct clinical outcomes (e.g., depression, attachment, functioning) in larger samples to provide a more powerful test of these interpretations (Nauphal et al, 2021).…”

The Implementability and Proximal Effects of a Transdiagnostic Mental Health Intervention for Adolescents (Kort): Protocol for a Mixed-Methods Intensive Longitudinal Study

“…Research has also shown modest correlations between ER measured as a trait compared to momentary assessments of ER (38)(39). Regarding intervention research, the sole use of pre-and post-assessments of ER limits researchers from determining when, how, and in response to which elements change occurs (40). With daily measurements of ER, we can investigate ER as a dynamic process in relation to the intervention and the mechanisms that lead to improved mental health and well-being (33).…”