Garrison, Sarah C. DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF AN ASSESSMENT OF MINDFULNESS EXPECTATIONS. 2023. Radford University, Doctoral Capstone Project. Radford University Scholars' Repository.
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Abstract
People practice mindfulness around the world, in all types of settings, across the lifespan, and for many different reasons. While scientific research demonstrates the potential for improvements in health and well-being as a byproduct of mindfulness practice, there are also examples of exaggerated claims and misused terminology across popular culture. Mindfulness is not a cure-all, and development of mindfulness requires personal motivation. Understanding a person’s expectations for mindfulness practice before they begin training can help mindfulness educators more effectively serve their populations. The purpose of the proposed study was to develop and subsequently validate a theoretically grounded Assessment of Mindfulness Expectations (AME). Expert consensus was used to determine inclusion of questionnaire items and a first-round trial of a 36-question instrument (N=28) was assessed for internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha. Twenty items were eliminated in this process and a second-round trial of the remaining 16 items (N=240) was completed. Principal components factor analysis revealed four factors and a Cronbach’s Alpha of .789. The resulting AME consists of 16 multiple choice questions, plus demographic and open-ended qualitative questions that were identified for inclusion through expert consensus. This work established the reliability and validity of the new instrument itself. It is anticipated that the AME may have utility for would-be mindfulness students and teachers at the beginning of their processes to inform a do-no-harm approach to training. As mindfulness programs are increasingly common for health promotion across sectors, future work should explore the utility of this instrument in various settings and with various populations. This work is limited by the use of convenience snowball samples and would benefit from testing with larger representative samples.
| Item Type: | Doctoral Capstone Project |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | R Medicine > RZ Other systems of medicine |
| Divisions: | Radford University > Waldron College of Health and Human Services > Health Sciences Program |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Feb 2024 05:14 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Feb 2024 05:14 |
| URI: | http://wagner.radford.edu/id/eprint/1087 |
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