A Rasch Model Analysis of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale

Abstract

The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale was developed to measure individual differences in the tendency to be mindful. The current study examined the psychometric properties of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale in a heterogeneous sample of 565 nonmeditators and 612 meditators using the polytomous Rasch model. The results showed that some items did not function the same way for these two groups. Overall, meditators had higher mean estimates than nonmeditators. The analysis identified a group of items as highly discriminating. Using a different model, Van Dam, Earleywine, and Borders in 2010 identified the same group of items as highly discriminating, and concluded that they were the items with the most information. Multiple pieces of evidence from the Rasch analysis showed that these items discriminate highly because of local dependence, hence do not supply independent information. We discussed how these different conclusions, based on similar findings, result from two very different paradigms in measurement.

Keywords

mindfulness Mindful Attention Awareness Scale MAAS polytomous Rasch model local dependence meditation

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Andrich

(1982). An index of person separation in latent trait theory, the traditional KR-20 index, and the Guttman scale response pattern. Education Research and Perspectives, 9, 95-104.

Andrich

(2004). Controversy and the Rasch model: A characteristic of incompatible paradigms? Medical Care, 42(1), 1-7.

Andrich

(2010). Educational measurement: Rasch models. In Peterson

Baker

McGaw

(Eds.), International encyclopedia of education (3rd ed., pp. 111-122). Oxford, England: Elsevier.

Andrich

Hagquist

(2012). Real and artificial differential item functioning. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 37, 387-416.

Andrich

Humphry

Marais

(2012). Quantifying local, response dependence between two polytomous items using the Rasch model. Applied Psychological Measurement, 36, 309-324.

Andrich

Sheridan

Luo

(2014). RUMM2030. Perth, Western Australia, Australia: RUMM Laboratory.

Andrich

Styles

(2011). Distractors with information in multiple choice items: A rationale based on the Rasch model. Journal of Applied Measurement, 12, 67-95.

Austin

J. H.

(2006). Zen-Brain Reflections: Reviewing recent developments in meditation and states of consciousness. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Baer

R. A.

(2015). Assessing mindfulness in multiple contexts: A comment on Christopher, Woodrich, and Tiernan (2014). Mindfulness, 6, 687-692.

10.

Baer

R. A.

Smith

G. T.

Hopkins

Krietemeyer

Toney

(2006). Using self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness. Assessment, 13, 27-45.

11.

Bishop

S. R.

Lau

Shapiro

Carlson

Anderson

N. D.

Carmody

. . . Devins

(2004). Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11, 230-241.

12.

Bland

J. M.

Altman

D. G.

(1995). Multiple significance tests: The Bonferroni method. British Medical Journal, 310, 170.

13.

Bodhi

(1984). The noble eightfold path: The way to the end of suffering. Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society.

14.

Brown

K. W.

Ryan

R. M.

(2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 822-848. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.4.822

15.

Brown

K. W.

Ryan

R. M.

(2004). Perils and promise in defining and measuring mindfulness: Observations from experience. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11, 242-248.

16.

Buchheld

Grossman Walach

(2001). Measuring mindfulness in insight meditation (vipassana) and meditation-based psychotherapy: The development of the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI). Journal of Meditation and Meditation Research, 1, 11-34.

17.

Cano

S. J.

Hobart

J. C.

(2011). The problem with health measurement. Patient Preference and Adherence, 5, 279-290.

18.

Cavanagh

Strauss

Forder

Jones

(2014). Can mindfulness and acceptance be learnt by self-help? A systematic review and meta-analysis of mindfulness and acceptance-based self-help interventions. Clinical Psychology Review, 34, 118-129.

19.

Christopher

M. S.

Charoensuk

Gilbert

B. D.

Neary

T. J.

Pearce

(2009). Mindfulness in Thailand and the United States: A case of apples versus oranges? Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65, 590-612.

20.

Fetzer Institute. (1999). Multidimensional measurement of religiousness/spirituality for use in health research (National Institute on Aging Working Group). Retrieved from http://fetzer.org/sites/default/files/images/resources/attachment/[current-date:tiny]/Multidimensional_Measurement_of_Religousness_Spirituality.pdf

21.

Green

S. B.

Lissitz

R. W.

Mulaik

S. A.

(1977). Limitations of coefficient alpha as an index of test unidimensionality. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 37, 827-838.

22.

Strauss

Bond

Cavanagh

(2015). How do mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction improve mental health and wellbeing? A systematic review and meta-analysis of mediation studies. Clinical Psychology Review, 37, 1-12.

23.

Grossman

Van Dam

N. T.

(2011). Mindfulness, by any other name…: Trials and tribulations of sati in western psychology and science. Contemporary Buddism: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 12 (1), 219-239.

24.

Hobart

J. C.

Cano

(2009). Improving the evaluation of therapeutic interventions in multiple sclerosis: The role of new psychometric methods. Health Technology Assessment, 13(12), iii, ix-x.

25.

Khoury

Lecomte

Fortin

Masse

Therien

Bouchard

. . . Hofmann

S. G.

(2013). Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 33, 763-771.

26.

Leigh

Bowen

Marlatt

G. A.

(2005). Spirituality, mindfulness and substance abuse. Addictive Behaviors, 30, 1335-1341.

27.

Levinson

D. B.

Stoll

E. L.

Kindy

S. D.

Merry

H. L.

Davidson

R. J.

(2014). A mind you can count on: Validating breath counting as a behavioral measure of mindfulness. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1-10.

28.

Marais

Andrich

(2008a). Effects of varying magnitude and patterns of response dependence in the unidimensional Rasch model. Journal of Applied Measurement, 9, 105-124.

29.

Marais

Andrich

(2008b). Formalizing dimension and response violations of local independence in the unidimensional Rasch model. Journal of Applied Measurement, 9, 200-215.

30.

Mehrens

W. A.

Lehmann

I. J.

(1991). Measurement and evaluation in education and psychology (4th ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

31.

Peters

J. R.

Eisenlohr-Moul

T. A.

Upton

B. T.

Baer

R. A.

(2013). Nonjudgment as a moderator of the relationship between present-centered awareness and borderline features: Synergistic interactions in mindfulness assessment. Personality and Individual Differences, 55, 24-28.

32.

Piron

(2001). The Meditation Depth Index (MEDI) and the Meditation Depth Questionnaire (MEDEQ). Journal for Meditation and Meditation Research, 1, 69-92.

33.

Rasch

(1961). Probabilistic models for some intelligence and attainment tests (Reprinted 1980, expanded ed. with forward and afterward by Wright

B. D.

). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

34.

Sauer

Walach

Schmidt

Hinterberger

Lynch

Bussing

Kohls

(2013). Assessment of mindfulness: Review on state of the art. Mindfulness, 4, 3-17. doi:10.1007/s12671-012-0122-5

35.

Shapiro

S. L.

Oman

Thoresen

C. E.

Plante

T. G.

Flinders

(2008). Cultivating mindfulness: Effects on well-being. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 64, 840-862.

36.

Smith

E. V.

(2002). Detecting and evaluating the impact of multidimensionality using item fit statistics and principal component analysis of residuals. Journal of Applied Measurement, 3, 205-231.

37.

Smith

E. V.

(2005). Effect of item redundancy on Rasch item and person estimates. Journal of Applied Measurement, 6, 147-163.

38.

Smith

R. M.

Plackner

(2009). The family approach to assessing fit in Rasch measurement. Journal of Applied Measurement, 10, 424-437.

39.

Stevens

(1996). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

40.

Tennant

Conaghan

P. G.

(2007). The Rasch measurement model in rheumatology: What is it and why use it? When should it be applied, and what should one look for in a Rasch paper? Arthritis and Rheumatism, 57, 1358-1362.

41.

Tennant

Pallant

J. F.

(2007). DIF matters: A practical approach to test if differential item functioning makes a difference. Rasch Measurement Transactions, 20, 1082-1084.

42.

Van Dam

N. T.

Earleywine

Borders

(2010). Measuring mindfulness? An item response theory analysis of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 49, 805-810. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.07.020