BioPsychoSocial Medicine

unofficial impact factor 1.00

Open Access Research

Validation of a French version of the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory - short version: relationships between mindfulness and stress in an adult population

Marion Trousselard1*, Dominique Steiler2, Christian Raphel1, Corinne Cian1, Raffi Duymedjian2, Damien Claverie1 and Frédéric Canini1

Author Affiliations

1 Département des Facteurs Humains, Centre de recherches du service de santé des Armées, 24 avenue des maquis du Grésivaudan, BP 87, 38702 La Tronche cedex, France

2 Département Management et Comportements, Grenoble Ecole de Management, 12 rue Pierre Sémard, BP 127, 38003 Grenoble cedex 01, France

For all author emails, please log on.

BioPsychoSocial Medicine 2010, 4:8 doi:10.1186/1751-0759-4-8

Published: 12 August 2010

Abstract

Background

Whereas interest in incorporating mindfulness into interventions in medicine is growing, data on the relationships of mindfulness to stress and coping in management is still scarce. This report first presents a French validation of the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory-short form (FMI) in a middle-aged working population. Secondly, it investigates the relationship between psychological adjustment and mindfulness.

Methods

Five hundred and six non-clinical middle-aged working individuals rated themselves on the self-report French version FMI and completed measures of psychological constructs potentially related to mindfulness levels.

Results

Results were comparable to results of the original short version. Internal consistency of the scale based on the one-factor solution was .74, and test-retest reliability was good. The one-dimensional solution as the alternative to the two-factor structure solution yielded suboptimal fit indices. Correlations also indicated that individuals scoring high on mindfulness are prone to stress tolerance, positive affects and higher self-efficacy. Furthermore, subjects with no reports of stressful events were higher on mindfulness.

Conclusion

These data showed that mindfulness can be measured validly and reliably with the proposed French version of the FMI. The data also highlighted the relationship between mindfulness and stress in an adult population. Mindfulness appears to reduce negative appraisals of challenging or threatening events.