Psychometric validation and refinement of the Interoception Sensory Questionnaire (ISQ) in adolescents and adults on the autism spectrum.
Evan Suzman, Zachary J Williams, Jacob I Feldman and 7 others
PMID 34099040WHAT IT FOUND
A shorter 8-item questionnaire reliably measures interoceptive difficulties in autistic adolescents and adults.
The original 20-item version contained redundant questions that skewed results, so the refined tool provides a clearer, more accurate picture of a patient's awareness of internal body signals.
Key findings
01The original 20-item Interoception Sensory Questionnaire had poor statistical fit due to redundant items asking similar questions, which inflated reliability scores and biased total scores.
02A reduced 8-item version of the questionnaire demonstrated excellent fit and reliability in autistic adults, with scores correlating very highly with the original measure.
03The 8-item version functioned equivalently across adolescent and adult participants, supporting its validity for use in both age groups on the autism spectrum.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study lacked a neurotypical control group, so it cannot confirm if the ISQ-8 differentiates between autistic and non-autistic individuals. Autism diagnoses were self-reported and not verified by clinical assessment. The sample had a higher proportion of female participants than is typical in autism research. The study did not test convergent validity with other interoception measures or clinical outcomes like anxiety. The 5-point response scale recommended for the ISQ-8 was derived from recoded 7-point data, not collected directly, so its psychometric properties are not fully known.
Declared interests
Funding was provided by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, and the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the ISQ-8 is a diagnostic tool for autism or that it differentiates autistic individuals from neurotypical peers, as no control group was included. It measures self-reported interoceptive difficulty within the autistic population, not objective physiological accuracy.