Russian Adaptation of «The Multi-Dimensional Assessment of Interceptive Awareness» (MAIA-R)

Background of the study is related to the problem on the lack of psychodiagnostic tools allowing to operationalize the concept of "interoceptive awareness". The interoceptive awareness is an aspect of body awareness, focused on sensory bodily processes associated with the state of the internal environment of the body, and plays an important role in the regulation of emotional states.

Objective. To operationalize this concept, the Russian-language version of The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness questionnaire (MAIA) (Mehling et al., 2012) was validated. The purpose of the study is to test the psychometric characteristics of MAIA-R and standardize it.

Methods. The study was conducted on a sample of 1100 people aged 16 to 66 years (M=26.9; SD=10.4); 19.3% men, 80.7% women. To assess the criterion validity, following contrasting groups with different levels of interoceptive awareness were identified: 1) psychotherapists (N=50), 2) professional athletes (N=103), 3) respondents with experience in bodily practices as a hobby (N=81), 4) with no experience in bodily practices (N=123). Processing of the received data was carried out by the methods of mathematical statistics (t-Student, factor analysis, one-factor analysis of variance, correlation analysis, Cronbach's alpha).

Results. The cultural specificity of the MAIA questionnaire was confirmed; the content of the factors, different from the original, is reflected in the titles: «Noticing», «Not-distracting», «Not-worrying», «Attention Regulation», «Awareness of a Negative Emotional State», «Self-regulation Based on Active “Listening” to the Body», «Trusting» and «Awareness of a Positive Emotional State». The orthogonal nature of the structural components of interoceptive awareness and their independence from the gender factor have been established. High rates of internal consistency and retest reliability were obtained.

Conclusion. The questionnaire can be used in psychotherapeutic research and practice, as well as in the work of sports psychologists to assess the level of awareness of bodily processes and the dynamics of self-regulation of athletes.

Funding. This paper has been supported by the Kazan Federal State University Strategic Academic Leadership Program» (Priority-2030).

References

1. Bornemann, B., Herbert, B.M., Mehling, W.E., Singer, T. (2015). Differential changes in self-reported aspects of interoceptive awareness through 3 months of contemplative training. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1504. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01504

2. Brytek-Matera, A., Kozieł, A. (2015). The body self-awareness among women practicing fitness: a preliminary study. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 46 (1). 104–111. doi: 10.1515/ppb-2015-0014

3. Emelin, V.A., Rasskazova, E.I., Tkhostov, A.Sh. (2018). The Unity and Diversity of the Processes of Personal Identity Formation. Questions of philosophy (Voprosy Filosofii), 2, 26–37. (In Russ.).

4. Ferentzi, Е., Olaru, G., Geiger, М., Vig, L., Köteles, F., Wilhelm, O. (2020). Examining the Factor Structure and Validity of the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness. Journal of Personality Assessment, 103 (5), 675–684 doi:10.1080/00223891.2020.1813147

5. Freedman, A., Hu, H., Liu, I.T.H.C., Stewart, A.L., Adler, S., Mehling, W.E. (2021). Similarities and Differences in Interoceptive Bodily Awareness Between US-American and Japanese Cultures: A Focus-Group Study in Bicultural Japanese-Americans. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, 45 (2), 234–267. doi:10.1007/s11013-020-09684-4

6. Goodall, E. (2020). Interoception as a proactive tool to decrease challenging behaviour. 39 (2). (Retrieval from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339069993) (review date: 06.02.2022).

7. Herbert, B.M., Pollatos, O., Klusmann, V. (2020). Interoception and Health. Psychological and Physiological Mechanisms. European Journal of Health Psychology, 27 (4), 127–131. doi:org/10.1027/2512-8442/a000064

8. Khoury, N.M., Lutz J., & Schuman-Olivier Z. (2018) Interoception in Psychiatric Disorders: A Review of Randomized, Controlled Trials with Interoception-Based Interventions. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 26 (5), 250–263. doi:org/10.1097/HRP.0000000000000170

9. Lin F.L., Hsu, C.C., Mehling, W., Yeh, M.L. (2017). Translation and psychometric testing of the Chinese version of the multidimensional assessment of interoceptive awareness. The Journal of Nursing Research, 25 (1), 76–84. doi:10.1097/jnr.0000000000000182

10. Mehling, W.E., Chesney, M.A., Metzler, T.J., Goldstein, L.A., Maguen, S., Geronimo, C., Neylan, T.C. (2018). A 12-week integrative exercise program improves self-reported mindfulness and interoceptive awareness in war veterans with posttraumatic stress symptoms. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 74 (4), 554–565. doi:org/10.1002/jclp.22549

11. Mehling, W.E., Price, C., Daubenmier, J.J., Acree, M., Bartmess, E., Stewart, A. (2012). The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA). PLoS One, 7 (11), e48230. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048230

12. Mul, C.L, Stagg, S.D, Herbelin, B., Aspell, J.E. (2018). The Feeling of Me Feeling for You: Interoception, Alexithymia and Empathy in Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48 (9), 2953–2967. doi:10.1007/s10803-018-3564-3

13. Neukirch, N., Reid, S., & Shires, A. (2019). Yoga for PTSD and the role of interoceptive awareness: A preliminary mixed-methods case series study. European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 3 (1), 7–15.

14. Paulus, P., Feinstein, J.S., & Khalsa, S. (2019). An active inference approach to interoceptive psychopathology. Annual Reviews of Clinical Psychology, 15, 97–122. doi:org/10.1146/ annurev-clinpsy-050718-095617

15. Plans, D., Ponzo, S., Morelli, D., Cairo, M., Ring, C., Keating, C.T., Cunningham, A.C., Catmur, C., Murphy, J., Bird, G. (2021). Measuring interoception: The phase adjustment task. Biological Psychology, 165, 108171. doi:org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108171

16. Pollatos, O., & Herbert, B.M. (2018). Interoception: Definitions, dimensions, neural substrates. Embodiment in psychotherapy: A practitioner’s guide. G. Hauke & A. Kritikos (Eds.).
    (pp. 15–28). Cham: Springer Nature. doi:org/10.1007/978-3-319-92889-0

17. Popova, R.R. (2020). Problema issledovaniya i metody diagnostiki interotseptivnogo osoznavaniya v otechestvennoi i zarubezhnoi psikhologii. South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences (Yuzhno-Rossiiskii zhurnal sotsial'nykh nauk), 21 (2), 126–139. (In Russ.). doi:10.31429/26190567-21-2-126-138

18. Quadt, L., Critchley, H.D., & Garfinkel, S.N. (2018). The neurobiology of interoception in health and disease. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1428, 112–128. doi:org/ 10.1111/nyas.13915

19. Schulz, A., Schultchen, D., & Vögele, C. (2020). Interoception, stress, and physical symptoms in stress-associated diseases. European Journal of Health Psychology, 27 (4), 132–153. doi:org/10.1027/2512-8442/a000063

20. Shoji, M., Mehling, W.E., Hautzinger, M., Herbert, B.M. (2018). Investigating Multidimensional Interoceptive Awareness in a Japanese Population: Validation of the Japanese MAIA-J. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1855. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01855

21. Tkhostov, A.Sh. (2002). Psychology of Corporeality. Moscow: Smysl. (In Russ.).

22. Zamariola, G., Frost, N., Van Oost, A., Corneille, O., & Luminet, O. (2019). Relationship between interoception and emotion regulation: New evidence from mixed methods. (Report). Journal of Affective Disorders, 246, 480–485. doi:org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.12.101