Reliability and Validity of the Dutch Interoceptive Accuracy Scale and Interoceptive Attention Scale

Interoception, the perception of internal bodily signals, is thought to play a key role in health behavior. Interoceptive domains (e.g., accuracy and attention) are associated with mental disorders in various ways, underscoring the need for specific measures for different interoceptive domains. To allow for studying interoceptive domains in the Dutch population, the current study aimed to investigate the reliability and validity of Dutch translations of the Interoceptive Accuracy Scale (IAS-D) and Interoceptive Attention Scale (IATS-D).

In a sample of 779 participants (mean age 52.98 ± 16.47, 49.6% female), the IAS-D showed good internal consistency (α = 0.89) with a four-factor structure according to the confirmatory factor analysis (CFI = 0.816, TLI = 0.788, RMSEA = 0.084). The IAS-D had significant negative relations to the Interoceptive Confusion Questionnaire (β = −0.638, p < 0.001), depression (β = −0.298, p < 0.001), and alexithymia (β = 0.528, p < 0.001). The IATS-D showed good internal consistency (α = 0.94) with a three-factor structure according to the confirmatory factor analysis (CFI = 0.852, TLI = 0.833, RMSEA = 0.100). The IATS-D had significant positive relations with the Interoceptive Confusion Questionnaire (β = 0.481, p < 0.001), Body Perception Questionnaire (β = 0.207, p < 0.001), depression (β = 0.377, p < 0.001), and alexithymia (β = 0.528, p < 0.001).

The IAS-D and IATS-D are considered reliable and valid instruments for assessing self-reported interoceptive accuracy and attention in Dutch-speaking populations, supporting public health research on the role of interoception in health behavior.