Validation of the Spanish Version of the Body Awareness Questionnaire (BAQ) and an Exploration of Its Relationship to Meditation and Embodiment Variables.
Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) – March 14, 2025
Source: PubMed
Summary
The Spanish version of the Body Awareness Questionnaire (BAQ) demonstrated strong reliability with a coefficient of 0.82 among 281 participants. Positive correlations were observed with the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS-2) and Self-Compassion Scale-Short (SCS-S), confirming its validity, while no significant correlation with the New Sexual Satisfaction Scale-Short (NSSS-S) indicated discriminant validity. Notably, it effectively distinguished between meditators and non-meditators. A two-factor structure was supported through statistical factor analysis, suggesting this tool is valuable for exploring body awareness in various clinical and non-clinical contexts.
Abstract
Purposes: The Body Awareness Questionnaire (BAQ) has been considered the best available measure of body awareness, but it is not currently available in Spanish. Methods: To address this shortcoming, a sample of 281 Spanish participants completed a survey with a Spanish version of the BAQ, as well as the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS-2), the Self-Compassion Scale-Short (SCS-S) and the New Sexual Satisfaction Scale-Short (NSSS-S). Results: Analysis of the Spanish BAQ showed good reliability: α = 0.82. Positive correlations with the BAS-2 and the SCS-S, and no significant correlation with the NSSS-S, support the convergent and discriminant validity of the Spanish BAQ. In conceptual validity, the Spanish BAQ further successfully discriminated between meditators and non-meditators, showing additional support for the conceptual validity of the measure. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) supported a two-factor structure, rather than a one-factor or four-factor version, as proposed for the original English version. Conclusions: The Spanish version of the BAQ has shown adequate reliability and validity and would be a good scale to continue exploring in clinical Spanish population samples, e.g., in patients with chronic pain, and non-clinical ones, e.g., after interventions in sexuality or sport. It could be an interesting questionnaire to assess outcomes of mindfulness-based interventions.