One’s experience of a place can have implications for their daily behaviour, development, health, aging, and quality of life. An often misjudged influence that may affect such experiences is the potential immersive quality of these person-place interactions. With no measures to quantify such a phenomenon, this study presents the psychometric validation of a novel ‘place immersion’ scale designed to capture the extent to which individuals self-report deep, engrossing, and minimally-interrupted (i.e., immersive) experiences of places. Building on a previous conceptualization paper redacted, the resultant Place Immersion Scale (PLIMS) was validated through item pre-test expert evaluations, a within-subjects (n=244) ecological momentary assessment study of two divergent contemplative environments (noisy road area, quiet lake area), and subsequent dimensionality, validity, and reliability analyses. A three-factor (i.e., neuro-spatial, psycho-spatial, and socio-spatial immersion) scale structure was supported by exploratory factor analyses. Confirmatory factor analyses of the three-factor, 14-item scale suggested good overall construct validity via acceptable levels of convergent (e.g., total scale Average Variance Extracted values >0.50) and discriminant (e.g., all latent variable covariance upper limits ≤0.80) validity. Reliability analysis suggested each immersion dimension (i.e., factor) can be reliably measured with four to five scale items, and strong reliability for the total scale (α=0.88 in natural space, α=0.90 in built space). Predictive validity analyses were also conducted using linear mixed models to explore associations with anxiety-present, anxiety-absent, and perceived restorativeness outcomes. • Experiences of place may be neurologically, psychologically, and socially immersive • The Place Immersion Scale (PLIMS) is psychometrically validated in this paper • Participants (n=244) completed ecological surveys in two distinct urban landscapes • Exploratory, confirmatory factor analyses validated a three-factor, 14 item PLIMS • The PLIMS may be used to further study place experiences, interactions, behaviours
Buttazzoni et al. (Sun,) studied this question.