Southampton Mindfulness Questionnaire

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the 16-item self-report Southampton Mindfulness Questionnaire (SMQ) that was developed to assess mindful responses to distressing thoughts and images. Theoretical foundations of the scale and its development and initial validation are presented. This is followed by subsequent examination of psychometric properties and information of the scale versions in other languages. Table one shows the SMQ in its current version, followed by an explanation of the scoring. The parallel voice version of the SMQ, named Southampton Mindfulness Voices Questionnaire (SMVQ), is introduced while the limitations of the SMQ are discussed at the end of the chapter. The SMQ consists of four aspects of mindfulness, identified as Mindfulness observation, Letting go, Absence of aversion, and Non-judgment. The scale developers reported promising psychometric properties and claimed a unidimensional structure of the scale. There has been a limited number of studies that have examined the psychometric properties of the SMQ, and the evidence regarding the scale’s internal validity and reliability has been mixed. The SMQ has Chinese, Spanish, and Dutch versions. Those translated versions, however, have not yet been rigorously validated. The limitation of the SMQ is that the scale may not be suitable for general use as it does not contain items about positive or neutral cognitions and does not assess mindful responses to a wide range of experiences in everyday life.