Mindfulness in Vipassana meditation and psychotherapy - Development of a mindfulness questionnaire

Abstract

This study would like to contribute to present and future mindfulness(-meditation) research by the empirical analysis of mindfulness and the construction of a measurement scale. The development of the mindfulness questionnaire is presented in four phases: construction of the item pool (1), expert assessment of the items (2), and main study, where the preform was given to four samples of vipassana course participants in a pre (n=100)-post (n=93)-design (3). The reliability coefficient of the final questionnaire (30 items) amounts to .91 at t1 and .94 at t2. For both measurement times a four factor solution seems adequate. Factor structure does not appear stable over time. The four factors reflect the theoretical-conceptional characteristics of mindfulness. Data indicates one-dimensionality of the construct and the presence of a general factor. The mindfulness questionnaire constitutes an economic, valid, homogeneous and reliable instrument, which could be optimized and employed in further research studies.