Determinants of meditation practice inventory: development, content validation, and initial psychometric testing.

Background Meditation health benefits have been difficult to document, as many efficacy studies are marred by lack of statistical power secondary to small sample size and/or threats to validity from high attrition. To date, no published studies have examined barriers to meditation that are likely responsible for low enrollment and high attrition. Objective To develop an instrument to capture barriers to meditation use, namely, the Determinants of Meditation Practice Inventory (DMPI). Design A five-step, mixed-methods approach was used, including literature review, qualitative interviews, content validation, reliability testing, and construct validation. Participants/Setting Four distinct participant groups contributed. Four meditation teachers participated in qualitative interviews. Five expert panelists conducted the content validation. Ten nonmeditators participated in the pilot test. For reliability testing and construct validation, 150 cancer family caregivers participated. Outcome Measures Big Five Inventory (BFI) and Caregiver Reactions Assessment (CRA) were used to test convergent construct validity. Results The three content domains are perceptions and misconceptions, pragmatic concerns, and sociocultural beliefs. Initially, 53 items were generated. Three reviews by the expert panel concluded with a 22-item survey. After pilot testing, a 17-item survey was created. Data from 150 caregivers showed Cronbach's coefficient alpha of 0.87. The intraclass correlation for baseline and retest was 0.86 (confidence interval 0.82-0.90). BFI and CRA were significantly and positively correlated with DMPI. Conclusion Preliminary results indicate the DMPI is psychometrically sound. By identifying barriers to meditation, the DMPI will enable researchers to address the needs and concerns of the target population when designing recruitment and intervention procedures, potentially maximizing recruitment, minimizing attrition, and optimizing interpretation of results.