The psychometric properties of the mindfulness in teaching scale in a Turkish sample

Abstract

In this study, by translating the Mindfulness in Teaching Scale (MTS) developed by Frank, Jennings and Greenberg [1] into Turkish, it was aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the scale among Turkish educators. The adaptation study of the scale started with the linguistic equivalence study. After revealing that the scale was equivalent to the original form linguistically, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was applied for the construct validity. As a result of CFA, it was observed that the two-factor structure of goodness of fit was excellent (c2/sd=2.111, IFI=.93, CFI=.93, GFI=.95 and RMSEA=.054) whereas the single factor structure was at acceptable level (c2/sd=2.982, IFI=.87, CFI=.87, GFI=.93 and RMSEA=.072) based on the compliance index value calculations. The Cronbach's-alpha internal consistency coefficient was found to be .64 for the Interpersonal Mindfulness subscale, .80 for the Intrapersonal Mindfulness subscale, and .78 for the whole scale. While the corrected item total correlations ranged from .30 to .65, it was found that t-test results for the scores of the upper 27% and lower 27% groups were significant, and the scale indicated significant relationships with the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) (p<.05). In order to determine the test-retest reliability, correlation coefficient was found to be statistically significant in accordance with the measurements made in 3-week interval. Overall findings demonstrated that the Mindfulness in Teaching Scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool for Turkish educators.