Author: A Freedman1 2, H Hu3, I T H C Liu4, A L Stewart5, S Adler1 6, W E Mehling7 8
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup> Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, University of California San Francisco, 1545 Divisadero Street, 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA, 94115, USA.
<sup>2</sup> California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, USA.
<sup>3</sup> Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
<sup>4</sup> Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
<sup>5</sup> Institute for Health and Aging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, USA.
<sup>6</sup> Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, USA.
<sup>7</sup> Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, University of California San Francisco, 1545 Divisadero Street, 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA, 94115, USA. Wolf.Mehling@ucsf.edu.
<sup>8</sup> Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, USA. Wolf.Mehling@ucsf.edu.
Conference/Journal: Cult Med Psychiatry
Date published: 2020 Aug 1
Other:
Special Notes: doi: 10.1007/s11013-020-09684-4. , Word Count: 205
Interoceptive awareness is the conscious perception of sensations that create a sense of the physiological condition of the body. A validation study for the Japanese translation of the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) surprised with a factor structure different from the original English-language version by eliminating two of eight scales. This prompted an exploration of the similarities and differences in interoceptive bodily awareness between Japanese and European Americans. Bicultural Japanese-Americans discussed concepts and experiences in the two cultures. We conducted focus groups and qualitative thematic analyses of transcribed recordings. 16 participants illustrated cross-cultural differences in interoceptive bodily awareness: switching between languages changes embodied experience; external versus internal attention focus; social expectations and body sensations; emphasis on form versus self-awareness; personal space; and mind-body relationship; context dependency of bodily awareness and self-construal. The participants explained key concepts that present challenges for a Japanese cultural adaptation of the MAIA, specifically the concept of self-regulation lost in the factor analysis. In Japanese culture, self-regulation serves the purpose of conforming to social expectations, rather than achieving an individual self-comforting sense of homeostasis. Our findings will inform the next phase of improving the MAIA's cross-cultural adaptation.
KEYWORDS: Awareness; Culture; Interoception; Japanese Culture; Qualitative research.
PMID: 32740780 DOI: 10.1007/s11013-020-09684-4