Table 2 Structure of the three modules based on CAA and Euler’s learning steps

Main learning goal

• Encourage learners to move from maladaptive emotion regulation to healthy reappraisal to decrease or cope with negative emotions at work

• Encourage learners to move from superficial perspectives on a situation to bringing together different perspectives in a solution-oriented way

• Encourage learners to move from offensive or avoiding behaviour to communicating in an appreciative manner to contribute to a mutual good solution in a difficult situation

Introduction

Introduction into…:

(1) the three competences and why training them is worth it

(2) the respective module’s learning goals and schedule

(3) the training’s technical functions and

(4) the fictional practice team providing the sample videos

Raising awareness

Presenting a video of a problematic behaviour with regard to the respective competence (i.e., acting out of anger; inadequate perspective coordination, avoiding a confrontation with a colleague). In an MC-format, learners have to detect possible negative consequences of the respective behaviour

Anchor-task Pt.1: thinking about a critical situation at work in the last 2 weeks and writing down how one coped with this situation

Short recap of the contents of the respective previous modules (e.g., by means of MC tasks)

Knowledge transfer

• Audio synchronous animated explanations of the functions of emotions and the emotion generation process

• Self-directed exploration of different emotion regulation strategies (esp. reappraisal) by clicking on boxes and thus activating respective auditory explanations

• All contents incl. examples with reference to a video-sample-situation

• Audio synchronous animated explanations of human perception and behaviour (e.g., biases, needs, roles, see Fig. 2) with reference to video-sample-situation

• As a contrast to the “negative” reaction of the apprentice in the video, a positive model is shown, framed by questions on how to react as well as possible

• Overview of what constitutes good perspective coordination and example of a high-quality problem definition of the example situation

• Self-directed exploration of the four levels of a message by clicking on boxes and thus activating respective auditory explanations

• Audio synchronous animated explanations of the origin and the four steps of nonviolent communication (NVC)

Scaffolding/fading

(1) Internalize the link between emotion and cognition by assigning emotions to compatible thoughts referring to a conflict situation with a patient (closed-format)

(2) Practicing reappraisal strategies by assigning strategy names to compatible thoughts in a conflict situation with a patient (closed-format, see Fig. 3)

(3) Applying strategies by generating and writing down possible reappraisals to deal with a specific emotion (e.g., anger) in a specific situation (e.g., conflict with a colleague) (open-format)

• Along a sample situation with a colleague, participants work through a very detailed perspective coordination:

(1) Detecting individual perspectives (e.g., of MA vs. patient) on the situation in MC-format (closed-format)

(2) Detecting an optimal overall description of the problem in an MC-format (closed-format)

(3) Sorting possible courses of action in the situation and afterwards watching a possible beneficial response in form of a video (closed-format)

(4) Same procedure (1. individual perspectives; 2. overall perspective; 3. behaviour) in an open-format (i.e., text field)

(1) Practicing the four levels of a message by assigning each of the levels to a corresponding statement (closed-format)

(2) Internalizing the NVC by means of one short exercise per level (closed-format, e.g., labeling a statement as “observation” vs. “evaluation”)

(3) Internalizing contents by means of a step-by-step explanation (i.e., video snippets) of a positive communication with a colleague

(4) Applying NVC by generating and writing down one’s spoken answers to three different video-situations (e.g., conflict with colleague, shocked patient with severe diagnosis; open-format)

All exercises in all modules include feedback and theory-based sample solutions and participants are repeatedly motivated to transfer the training content to their own routines at work

Reflection

• Comparing one's self-generated reappraisals with theory-based sample reappraisals to evaluate one’s own strengths and improvement potentials

• Comparing one's self-generated thoughts regarding different perspectives and beneficial behaviours in a situation with theory-based answers

• Comparing one's self-generated spoken answers with beneficial theory-based answers (i.e., with the help of step by step explanations of video-snippets) and thinking about what could be changed in one’s original answer (see Fig. 4)

Articulation

• Writing down in own words why regulating one’s emotions by reappraising a situation might be better than suppressing ones’ emotions

• Regarding a new situation, participants see both a positive and a negative response and are given the opportunity to verbalize what was good or bad and again compare these responses to the authors’ suggestion

• No further articulation task needed

Lessons learned: by reflecting the whole module, participants articulate what they have learned, what parts of the learned content could be especially helpful for their own work with patients and colleagues

Anchor-task Pt.2: by reflecting on how one coped with one’s anchor situation before the training, participants articulate how they would cope with the situation NOW by applying the respective competence