Spanish validation of the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) in parents of individuals with ASD.

INTRODUCTION

The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) is a widespread instrument to assess individual differences in the frequency of mindful states over time, and it has been validated in a variety of populations, countries, and settings. Nevertheless, validation with parents of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) still remains a gap in the current research field.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study aimed to validate the MAAS in Spanish parents of individuals with ASD (N = 118; 74 mothers and 44 fathers), assessing its psychometric properties and factor structure, invariance according to gender, convergent validity considering family quality of life, parenting alliance and satisfaction with life measures and divergent validity with parenting stress.

RESULTS

The confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a single-factor model with excellent internal consistency. Measurement invariance according to gender showed satisfactory results in configural and metric analyses, but only partial scalar invariance was confirmed. Moreover, there was evidence for convergent and discriminant validity, with significant relationships between the measures in the expected directions.

DISCUSSION: The findings suggest that the 15-items version of the MAAS is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used to assess mindfulness attention among Spanish parents of individuals with ASD.