Olga G. Lopukhova

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).