Validation of a Tamil Version of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire Using Rasch Analysis

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Cross-cultural psychology
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Mindfulness assessment tools are crucial for research and clinical practice.
• The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) is a widely used measure.
• Evaluating the FFMQ's utility in diverse cultural contexts is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the cross-cultural generalizability and utility of the FFMQ in India.
• To validate a Tamil translation of the FFMQ (FFMQ-T).

Main Methods:

• Recruited 303 Tamil-speaking adults without significant psychiatric or neurological history.
• Administered a 39-item Tamil version of the FFMQ (FFMQ-T).
• Utilized Rasch analysis (Partial-Credit model) to evaluate psychometric properties.

Main Results:

• Iterative Rasch analysis identified misfit with 'Observe' facet items.
• A subtest approach and item deletion led to a four-factor solution.
• The final FFMQ-T comprised 22 items, demonstrating improved fit.

Conclusions:

• The 22-item FFMQ-T is usable and psychometrically sound for the Tamil-speaking population in India.
• Results align with other cross-cultural FFMQ adaptations.
• Provided ordinal-to-interval conversion tables enhance FFMQ-T precision for statistical analysis.