Participants’ perspective on the competence of mindfulness-based interventions teaching: development and validation of the Mindfulness-Based Interventions Participants’ Assessment of Teaching (MBI:PAT) questionnaire

Objectives
No participant-rated tool exists for assessing MBI teaching competence. This study aimed to develop and validate the MBI:PAT to address this limitation. The primary objective was to develop a new measure, the Mindfulness-based Interventions: Participants’ Assessment of Teaching" (MBI:PAT), and to evaluate its psychometric properties across several studies using independent samples.

Method
The MBI:PAT was based on a theoretically and empirically supported operational definition of teaching competence and comprised 24 key features across the domains of coverage, pacing, and organization; relational skills; embodying mindfulness; guiding mindfulness practices; conveying course themes through interactive inquiry and didactic teaching; and holding the group’s learning environment. Across five studies, items were generated, refined, and validated using independent samples to assess factor structure, reliability, and validity.

Results
Findings support a 24-item questionnaire, with excellent internal consistency (ω = 0.99) and construct, convergent, and divergent validity, with a one-factor structure (CFI = 1.00; TLI = 1.00; RMSEA = 0.04, 90% CI [0.03, 0.05]; SRMR = 0.03). The measure demonstrates robust invariance across age and gender.

Conclusions
The MBI:PAT provides a psychometrically robust measure of MBI teaching competence from participants’ perspective that can be used in teaching, training and research. Future research is needed to explore its performance across a wider range of teaching competence, and its relationship to key process and outcome variables.