Psychometric Properties and Factor Structure of Body Awareness Questionnaire

Recently, a construct called "body awareness" has been defined in the field of health, which means focusing on and awareness of internal physical senses. Body awareness is known as a two facet construct that can have adaptive and maladaptive dimension. Despite the importance of such construct in the mental health, the psychometric properties of questionnaire that assess body awareness, have not been investigated in Iran. In this regard, the purpose of the present study was assessing psychometric properties of Persian version of body awareness Questionnaire (Shields, Mallory and Simon, 1989). Data were collected after translating into Persian and translating the modified Persian text into the original language. The body awareness questionnaire was distributed between 238 students of university of Tehran. Data was analyzed using, Pearson`s correlation, Cronbach's alpha and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of body awareness questionnaire was 0.88. Convergent validity was assessed using the subscales of Experience Questionnaire (decentering subscale) and Pennsylvania State Worry Questionnaire was used to assess divergent validity. Correlation coefficient (r=0.3) and non-significant correlation coefficient (r=0.02) were obtained. In exploratory factor analysis of this questionnaire, 4 factors were obtained and the confirmatory factor analysis was conducted for such 4 factors model. and this 4-factor model fitted well (RMSEA = 0.06; Chi-square/ df= 2.15). This study provides promising evidence of the psychometric properties of the Physical Awareness Questionnaire in the non-clinical student population.