Development and Validation of the Inventory of Meditation Experiences (IME)
Nicholas T. Dam, Jessica Targett, Alex Burger, Jonathan N. Davies, Julieta Galante
Mindfulness June 1, 2024 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1007/s12671-024-02384-9 via Springer Nature
Summary
A new tool called the Inventory of Meditation Experiences (IME) was developed to assess a range of meditation-related experiences, capturing their intensity and subjective valence. Data were collected from 886 US meditators, representing various meditation practices and experience levels. The IME demonstrated good psychometric properties, including expected correlations with adverse effects and mental health symptoms, indicating its utility in evaluating diverse meditation experiences.
Study at a glance
| Design | observational cohort |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 886 |
| Population | US meditators with varying practices and experience levels |
| Key finding | The Inventory of Meditation Experiences (IME) is a valid tool for assessing diverse meditation-related experiences based on intensity and subjective valence. |
Abstract
Objectives Meditation is increasingly popular, and yet studies of meditation-related adverse effects, or experiences of unusual psychological states, have mostly focused on those of extremely unpleasant or pleasant nature, respectively, despite the wide range of possible experiences. We aimed to create an instrument to capture meditation-related experiences of varied intensity and subjective valence. Method We collected detailed data from 886 US meditators after screening over 3000 individuals to generate a sample representative of major types of meditation practices and experience levels. Participants answered questions about meditation history, mental health, and 103 meditation-related experiences identified for the development of the Inventory of Meditation Experiences (IME). Results Parallel analysis guided the eventual determination of factors; exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis yielded good model-to-data fit on a 30-item, 3-factor version of the scale. The total scale and subscales showed expected correlations with measures of adverse effects, meditation characteristics, and mental health symptoms. Analysis indicated utility in examining experience intensity and valence as potentially distinct or combined features of experiences. Conclusions The IME is a psychometrically valid tool that may prove useful to assess a variety of meditation-related experiences that account for both the intensity and subjective valence of those experiences. Preregistration While several hypotheses were preregistered ( https://osf.io/r8beh/ ), the present study pertains only to the development and validation of the instrument.