Quantifying Barriers to Meditation as a Health Behavior: Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Determinants of Meditation Practice Inventory

Title of Thesis: QUANTIFYING BARRIERS TO MEDITATION AS A HEALTH BEHAVIOR: EXPLORATORY AND CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS OF THE DETERMINANTS OF MEDITATION PRACTICE INVENTORY Carly Hunt Rietschel, Master of Arts, 2016 Thesis Directed By: Professor Mary Ann Hoffman, PhD Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education Although the benefits of mindfulness meditation practices have been widely documented, research data suggest that there are barriers to regularly engaging in meditation behavior. In order to explore research questions pertaining to meditation initiation and adherence, psychometrically valid scales to assess barriers to meditation practice are necessary. The aim of the present study was to explore the factor structure and construct validity of the Determinants of Meditation Practice Inventory (DMPI) (Williams et al., 2011), a perceived barriers to meditation scale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses along with construct validity tests were performed on data obtained from two large, community samples. Results supported the DMPI as a valid scale assessing perceived barriers with four factors, Lack of Interest, Knowledge Concerns, Pragmatic Concerns and Sociocultural Beliefs. The present study offers a DMPI-revised scale that may be reliably used to assess attitudes and beliefs that might impede meditation behavior.