Measuring the four paths: Development and psychometric properties of the Paths of Yoga Self Evaluation (POYSE)

Yoga is increasingly offered as an adjunct in psychiatric care, but it is delivered uniformly and no validated instrument identifies the approach to which a person is naturally drawn. Classical yoga describes four complementary paths to freedom from suffering and cultivation of well-being, suited to different temperaments: Jnana (knowledge and self-inquiry), Raja (meditative discipline), Karma (selfless action) and Bhakti (devotion).

To develop and validate the Paths of Yoga Self Evaluation (POYSE), a self-report measure of orientation toward each path, for personalising yoga-based intervention in psychiatric practice and research.

Items drawn from classical sources were content validated by 23 experts, forming four eight-item subscales. The initial version was completed online by 1012 adults; after expert revision it was administered to an independent sample of 516 alongside the Vedic Personality Inventory (VPI), the Perceived Stress Scale and the Mini-IPIP, and a third sample of 54 completed it twice, two weeks apart.

Revision raised the subscale alpha range from 0.694 - 0.858 to 0.842-0.906 and brought all 32 items onto their intended factors. Eight items were removed, yielding a 24-item scale with a correlated four-factor structure (CFI 0.984, SRMR 0.062), subscale alpha 0.817-0.888, largest heterotrait-monotrait ratio 0.697 and two-week intraclass correlations 0.819-0.916. The four orientations were embedded within a strong general yogic dimension, the Y factor. All scores rose with VPI Sattva and fell with Rajas, Tamas and perceived stress; associations with Big Five traits were weak.

POYSE is a reliable, stable and valid measure of partially distinct orientations toward the four paths. Freely available with automated scoring, it allows yoga-based counselling and adjunct programmes in psychiatry to be matched to the person and path-matched effects on adherence and outcomes to be tested.