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Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Body Mindfulness Questionnaire

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Abstract

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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Jan M. Burg

  2. Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany

    Thomas Probst & Johannes Michalak

  3. Department of Psychology for Social Work, Health and Nursing, Esslingen University of Applied Sciences, Esslingen am Neckar, Germany

    Thomas Heidenreich

Authors
  1. Jan M. Burg
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  2. Thomas Probst
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  3. Thomas Heidenreich
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  4. Johannes Michalak
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Johannes Michalak.

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Conflict of Interest

All authors declare no conflicts of interests.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The Research Ethics Committee of the German Psychological Association approved the trial on MBCT and CBASP for chronically depressed patients (JM072009).

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Funding

The trial on MBCT and CBASP for chronic depression was funded by the German Science Foundation (Mi 700/4-1).

Additional information

Jan M. Burg and Thomas Probst contributed equally and should be considered co-first authors.

Appendix

Appendix

Items of the Body Mindfulness Questionnaire (BMQ)

  1. 1.

    In the hectic pace of everyday life, I lose the sense of my body.

  2. 2.

    I am so immersed in my activities that I am no longer aware of how my body feels here and now.

  3. 3.

    I value experiencing a strong connectedness with my body.

  4. 4.

    The awareness of my body gets lost in everyday life.

  5. 5.

    I value sensing my body consciously.

  6. 6.

    I feel that a conscious awareness of my body is important for my quality of life.

  7. 7.

    In everyday activities, I become lost in thought and hardly sense my body.

  8. 8.

    Consciously observing what is going on in my body is good for me.

  9. 9.

    I attribute independent value to a mindful body experience.

  10. 10.

    I forget my body in everyday stress.

  11. 11.

    I lose the sense of my body when performing automatic activities.

  12. 12.

    I am so absorbed in my thoughts that I no longer pay attention to my body.

  13. 13.

    I have an agreeable contact with my bodily experience.

  14. 14.

    It is enriching for me to experience my body consciously.

Scoring:

  • All items are rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (almost never) to 6 (almost always).

  • “Experiencing Body Awareness” scale: Reverse-score the negatively worded items 1, 2, 4, 7, 10, 11, 12 and calculate a sum score.

  • “Appreciating Body Awareness” scale: Calculate a sum score of the positively worded items 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 14.

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Burg, J.M., Probst, T., Heidenreich, T. et al. Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Body Mindfulness Questionnaire. Mindfulness 8, 807–818 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0659-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0659-9

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