title: The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA).
abstract: This paper describes the development of a multidimensional self-report measure of interoceptive body awareness. The systematic mixed-methods process involved reviewing the current literature, specifying a multidimensional conceptual framework, evaluating prior instruments, developing items, and analyzing focus group responses to scale items by instructors and patients of body awareness-enhancing therapies. Following refinement by cognitive testing, items were field-tested in students and instructors of mind-body approaches. Final item selection was achieved by submitting the field test data to an iterative process using multiple validation methods, including exploratory cluster and confirmatory factor analyses, comparison between known groups, and correlations with established measures of related constructs. The resulting 32-item multidimensional instrument assesses eight concepts. The psychometric properties of these final scales suggest that the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) may serve as a starting point for research and further collaborative refinement.
authors.affiliation: University of California San Francisco, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, San Francisco, California, United States of America. mehlingw@ocim.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Wolf E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Mehling
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Price
authors.forename: Jennifer J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Daubenmier
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Acree
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bartmess
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001364:Awareness; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003071:Cognition; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019222:Mind-Body Relations, Metaphysical; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires