Mindful Attention Awareness in Spanish Palliative Care Professionals
Psychometric Study With IRT and CFA Models
Abstract
Abstract. Mindfulness is conceived as a state in which the individual pays full attention to everything that is happening around him or her. The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) is the most popular instrument for assessing mindfulness. Studies on its structure have shown some conflicting results. This study aims to offer new evidence on the dimensionality and reliability of the MAAS, handling both SEM and IRT procedures, in palliative professionals. The sample was composed of 385 professionals from a national online survey. First, two Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFAs) were specified, estimated, and tested, with one- and two-factor structures, respectively. Second, the Graded Response Model (GRM) was used and accuracy of the MAAS using information functions was estimated. Results showed appropriate fit for the two CFA models. As the correlation between the two factors in the two-factor model was extremely high and the original authors posited a one-factor solution, this structure was retained for parsimony. The GRM also supported this structure, but found that the scale offered more information on professionals with lower levels of mindfulness, pointing at items 1, 2, 6, and 15 as the less discriminative, in line with the CFA lower factor loadings for these very same items.
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