The assessment of present-moment awareness and acceptance: the Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale

Abstract

AssessmentThe purpose of this project was to develop a bi-dimensional measure of mindfulness to assess its two key components: present-moment awareness and acceptance. The development and psychometric validation of the Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale (PHLMS) is described, and data are reported from expert raters, two nonclinical samples (n = 204 and 559), and three clinical samples including mixed psychiatric outpatients (n = 52), eating disorder inpatients (n = 30), and student counseling center outpatients (n = 78). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses support a two-factor solution, corresponding to the two constituent components of the construct. Good internal consistency was demonstrated, and relationships with other constructs were largely as expected. As predicted, significant differences were found between the nonclinical and clinical samples in levels of awareness and acceptance. The awareness and acceptance subscales were not correlated, suggesting that these two constructs can be examined independently. Potential theoretical and applied uses of the measure are discussed