IREL – A Psychometric Instrument for Measuring Life Themes

Abstract

Background: Although biographical narratives and work involving the meaning of biographical episodes is a central focus in any psychotherapy, there remains a lack of psychometric instruments for measuring the autobiographical construction as such. We will be presenting a theoretical model of an autobiographical construction of life themes and the Interview of Retrospective Exploration of Life themes (IREL) will be used as the basis of a psychometric instrument. The IREL takes about 90–120 min. The interrater reliability and test-retest reliability will be examined. Methods: Two samples of 21 and 23 mentally healthy subjects were recruited. In addition to the IREL, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and SCID were also used to control for psychopathological status and depressive mood. Results: According to our data, biographical events can be explored objectively and reliably using the IREL. Minor test-retest variability of the affective valence of life themes is not state-dependent. Conclusions: Setting aside limitations due to the small sample sizes, the results suggest that the proposed interview is an objective and reliable instrument for measuring central issues within the subjective biographical construction (life themes).