Abstract
Objectives
Between 2012 and 2017, the Mindful Self-Care Scale (MSCS) was crafted and refined through a rigorous, evidence-based process. From 2017 to 2023, the instrument was validated across an array of cultural contexts. Despite these promising results, no research has consolidated item-level data to evaluate the psychometrics of the measure across various cultures. This study sought to examine the intercultural validity of the MSCS.
Methods
Retrospective instrument meta-analysis with Rasch modeling, factor analysis, and data drawn from 16 studies among five continents, Asia, Australia, Europe, South America, and North America (n = 5,658).
Results
Rasch and Factor Analysis indicated that measurement properties of the MSCS were reliable and valid in all 16 studies. The MSCS (33-item) showed good internal structure, validity, and invariance, to support generalizability of its scores in varied cultural settings. The Brief-MSCS (24-item) had a stronger internal structure with parsimony for well-being applications.
Conclusions
The MSCS (33-item and 24-item) were both reliable and valid among culturally and occupationally varied samples. With wide factorial scope and proven psychometric robustness, the MSCS serves as a useful tool for assessing mindful self-care preferences and values across heterogeneous ethnic, cultural, and occupational landscapes. Rasch and invariance testing further supported the human needs-based self-care theory used to operationalize the MSCS. The only negative item in the measure (PC6), was not adding value and could be removed. Future research should investigate mind-body practice in self-care and their relationship to other mindfulness constructs.
Preregistration
This study is not preregistered.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We wish to acknowledge other researchers who provided Mindful Self-Care item-level data, in addition to the authors of this study, including Rachel Depner, Dilara Varan, Lindsay Burner, Hussan Zeb, Frederick Streets, Ahtisham Younas, Zhen Yang, and Huijun Zhang.
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Jason Hotchkiss: conceptualization; data curation; formal analysis; project administration; methodology; validation; writing—original draft; writing—review and editing. Catherine Cook-Cottone: conceptualization, data curation, resources, supervision, writing—reviewing and editing. Claudia Ming Yu Wong: data curation, formal analysis, validation, visualization, writing—review and editing. Wendy Guyker: data curation, resources, validation, writing—reviewing and editing. Ana Claudia Mesquita Garcia: data curation, investigation, validation, writing—original draft.
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This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Research Ethics Committee of Cornerstone University on 17 July 2021.
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This study used retrospective data only. However, informed consent was obtained from all participants included in this meta-analysis.
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Hotchkiss, J.T., Cook-Cottone, C.P., Wong, M.Y.C. et al. Intercultural Validation of the Mindful Self-Care Scale—Rasch and Factor Analysis of 16 Studies Representing Five Continents. Mindfulness 14, 2055–2072 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02196-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02196-3