How do people experience mindfulness?

The Five Facets of Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) measures the following facets of mindfulness: observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience, and non-reactivity to inner experience. The practice of mindfulness aims to alleviate stress, promote positive thinking, develop insight, reduce anxiety and distress, help in the recovery from chronic physical illnesses, develop coping mechanisms, and build emotional resilience. Some research has suggested that mindfulness can benefit the treatment of psychological problems, symptoms of physical diseases, work-life issues, and sports performance. Recent studies have identified a network of brain areas that are consistently activated during mindfulness meditation, including regions of the frontal cortex, insula, striatum, and amygdala.

Resources:

Baer, R.A. et al. (2006). Using self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness. Assessment 13(1): 27-45.

Powell, A. (2018). When science meets mindfulness. The Harvard Gazette. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/harvard-researchers-study-how-mindfulness-may-change-the-brain-in-depressed-patients/

Stierwalt, S. (2018). Mindfulness: The Science Behind the Practice. Scientific American: Mind. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mindfulness-the-science-behind-the-practice/

Tang, Y., Hölzel, B. and Posner, M. (2015). The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 16, 213–225.https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3916

Generalizing Statistical Results to the Entire Population.

Parameters
This survey cannot be tweaked.

What data is collected? How is it scored?
The following variables are recorded:

• FFMQ_observing
• FFMQ_describing
• FFMQ_nonjudging
• FFMQ_actingwithawareness
• FFMQ_nonreactivity
• FFMQ_total
• FFMQ_observing_avg
• FFMQ_describing_avg
• FFMQ_nonjudging_avg
• FFMQ_actingwithawareness_avg
• FFMQ_nonreactivity_avg
• FFMQ_total_avg

Raw data: 39 questions broken into 5 categories (observing, describing, nonjudging, actingwithawareness, nonreactivity). Each question uses a 5-point Likert scale. 19 questions are reverse-coded.

Calculation:
Observing subscore = sum of 8 items with ‘observing’ coding
Describing subscore = sum of 8 items with ‘ describing’ coding; three items reverse-scored
Non-judging subscore = sum of 8 items with ‘non-judging’ coding; all items reverse-scored
Acting with Awareness subscore = sum of 8 items with ‘ 3 acting with awareness’ coding; all items reverse-scored
Nonreactivity subscore = sum of 7 items with ‘nonreactivity’ coding

Total FFMQ score = add subscale scores

Finally, averages are calculated for each subscore and the total score.