Translation and cross-cultural validation of the Spanish version of the Mindful Awareness Attention Scale (MAAS): An exploratory analysis and potential applications to exercise psychology, sport and health

Abstract

The purposes of the study were to (1) translate the Mindful Awareness Attention Scale (MAAS) (Brown & Ryan, 2003) into Spanish and (2) make adjustments for its application to research in exercise psychology, sport and health. For the translation and transcultural validation, the Spanish version (T4) of the MAAS scale was reviewed by 100 advanced students and professors of Physical Education of the Universidad de Costa Rica. Next, T4 and the original English MAAS were completed by 58 students of the Master's program in Translation of the Universidad Nacional (Costa Rica). The scales were randomly applied at the beginning and at the end of a three-hour class. Internal consistency measured by Cronbach's alpha coefficient was adequate (a=0.88 T4 and α=0.84 original). Scores from the two versions were significantly correlated (r=0.94; p<0.01) and were not different (t=0.73; p>0.05). Thus it was found that the Spanish version of the MAAS is sufficiently valid and reliable to be implemented in research in exercise psychology, sports and health. Further studies must test construct validity of the Spanish version of the MAAS.