Interactive Technologies for Emotion Regulation Training: A Scoping Review

Emotion regulation is foundational to mental health and well-being. In the last decade there has been an increasing focus on the use of interactive technologies to support emotion regulation training in a variety of contexts. However, research has been done in diverse fields and no cohesive framework exists that explicates what features of such systems are important to consider, and what remains unknown which should be explored in future research. To address this gap, this paper presents the findings of a scoping review of 65 peer-reviewed papers. Through qualitative and frequency analysis we have analyzed the quality of published research, categorized the technologies that were used, reviewed their theoretical foundations, identified the opportunities that appear to provide unique benefits, and raised the challenges that require further exploration. Based on the findings we outline sensitizing concepts and considerations that researchers and designers may find useful for future designs and research. Where there are gaps in research, we propose gateways into non-HCI disciplines that may inform the design of future technologies and research designs for emotion regulation training.