The emotional resources group: an extended real-world evaluation

Purpose This study aims to conduct an extended evaluation of the emotional resources group (ERG), a brief emotion regulation group intervention routinely delivered in a secondary care adult mental health setting in NHS Scotland. Design/methodology/approach The service evaluation used a within-subjects repeated measures design to assess change in emotional regulation, self-efficacy, well-being and functioning for those who attended the ERG. Findings Analysis of those who completed the programme found highly statistically significant improvements in measures of emotion regulation, self-efficacy, well-being and functioning. Large effect sizes were observed on all measures other than functioning, which was moderate to large. Analysis of a conservative intent to treat sample mirrored these findings with highly significant improvements on all measures. Moderate to large effect sizes were also observed on all measures other than functioning, which was moderate. In addition, good rates of reliable and clinically significant change were found for the primary measure of emotional regulation across both completers and the intent to treat sample. In addition, good rates of reliable and clinically significant change were found for the primary measure of emotional regulation across both completers and the intent to treat sample. Originality/value This evaluation builds on previous research by extending the evidence of ERG’s effectiveness in an extended real-world NHS clinical setting. It establishes the credibility and acceptability of the intervention in secondary care outpatient adult mental health service settings.