Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Body Mindfulness Questionnaire

The body is central in many mindfulness-based interventions. Body mindfulness has been defined as observing body experiences and as a consequence appreciating body experiences. Since only a few psychometrically sound questionnaires are available to measure the observing aspect of body mindfulness and no scale specifically addresses the appreciating aspect of body mindfulness, the Body Mindfulness Questionnaire (BMQ) was created. This study presents the development and the psychometric evaluation of the BMQ. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses suggested two scales: “Experiencing Body Awareness” and “Appreciating Body Awareness”. Evidence for the reliability (internal consistency and retest reliability), validity (factorial validity and construct validity), and sensitivity to change is reported. The findings suggest that the BMQ is a valid and reliable instrument that allows assessment of essential facets of body mindfulness.