Validating the Mindfulness Skill Scale

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend the work of Stremic (2020), who created the Mindfulness Skill Scale (MSS). Stremic (2020) argued that mindfulness should be best measured as a skill that can be learned, rather than a personality trait or a psychological state. We recruited 150 working professionals from Prolific who were asked to complete the MSS, a series of other mindfulness measures that measured state, trait, and skill mindfulness, along with other mindfulness related outcomes (happiness, perceived stress, and anxiety). Participants in the intervention group were asked to engage in a mindful meditation, while participants in the control group were asked to watch a video about stress management techniques. Analyses examined correlations between mindfulness measures and outcome variables. We also examined whether the MSS demonstrated a stronger relationship to the outcomes compared to other mindfulness measures. In addition, we conducted Fisher’s r-to-z transformation to compare mindfulness measures to the outcome variables. Results showed that the mindfulness training did not work, therefore it is unclear if the MSS is accurately measuring mindfulness skill. Additionally, the mindfulness skill did not change over time and did not differ between conditions. Despite the mindfulness intervention not having an impact on mindfulness skill, the MSS was found to be significantly correlated with happiness, anxiety, and perceived stress. Overall, partial validity for the MSS was found. Future research is needed to further validate the MSS to be accurate and useful for organizational use.