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The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness – Version 2 (MAIA-2) is an 8-subscale state-trait self-report questionnaire to measure multiple dimensions of interoception (awareness of bodily sensations). The MAIA-2 is suitable for adults (18+) and has 37 items. There is a parallel youth version (MAIA-Y) for use with individuals 7 – 17 years of age.
Interoception refers to the sensation, interpretation, and integration of internal somatic signals (Eggart et al., 2021). There is compelling evidence demonstrating links between poor interoceptive awareness and difficulties with emotion awareness and emotion regulation (Price & Hooven, 2018). Interoception may be of clinical importance for individuals presenting with autism, eating disorders, alexithymia or chronic pain.
It can be beneficial to measure interoception in a therapeutic setting because effective emotion regulation involves the ability to accurately detect and evaluate cues related to physiological reactions to stressful events. The therapist and client can then work together on appropriate regulation strategies that temper and influence the emotional response.
The MAIA consists of 8 scales (addressing 5 dimensions of body awareness):
Scores are between 0 and 5, where higher score equates to more awareness of bodily sensation. A percentile is also calculated, indicating how the responded scored in comparison to a normative sample. Interpretation using percentiles helps contextualise scores. For example, percentile below 50 indicate that the individual scored below what is typical. Extreme percentile scores (below 10 or above 90) are of particular clinical significance.
The MAIA-2 consists of eight scales:
The results from the MAIA-2 focus upon the individual scale scores as a total score is not meaningful (Mehling et al., 2012).
The original MAIA (Mehling et al., 2012) was 32 questions and had some internal consistency weaknesses (Mehling et al., 2018). To improve upon the original the MAIA-2 added additional items (Mehling et al., 2018), yielding higher Cronbach alphas and improved psychometrics. Two subscales were below the standard Cronbach alpha criterion of 0.70 – Noticing (.64) and Not Worrying (.67). The eight MAIA-2 scales are sensitive to change and so can detect the effects of interventions aimed at improving interoception (Eggart et al., 2021).
A validation study by Mehling et al. (2018), based upon a convenience sample of 1,090 individuals between 18 and 69 years old, provided means and standard deviations for all 8 scales. The mean score (between 0 – 5) for each scale was:
Mehling WE, Acree M, Stewart A, Silas J, Jones A (2018) The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, Version 2 (MAIA-2). PLoS ONE 13(12): e0208034. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208034
Eggart, M., Todd, J., & Valdés-Stauber, J. (2021). Validation of the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA-2) questionnaire in hospitalized patients with major depressive disorder. PloS One, 16(6), e0253913. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253913
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. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0048230
Price, C. J., & Hooven, C. (2018). Interoceptive Awareness Skills for Emotion Regulation: Theory and Approach of Mindful Awareness in Body-Oriented Therapy (MABT). Frontiers in psychology, 9, 798. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00798
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