Unveiling the mirage of mindfulness profiles through mindfulness-based stress reduction

The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) stands out as a standard of mindfulness assessment in scientific literature, although scientific understanding of its properties is still in development. Among them, the FFMQ seems to present latent profiles with specific patterns in its facets. However, no study has explored the behavior of mindfulness profiles across mindfulness-based interventions. This study explores how Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) impacts mindfulness profiles. An overall sample of 624 participants were measured pre and post-MBSR in mindfulness, decentering, self-compassion, psychopathological symptoms, well-being, and positive and negative emotional states. MBSR altered the structure of latent profiles, shifting from 3 profiles to 2 profiles: A High Mindfulness minority profile and a General Mindfulness majority profile. These profiles could be interpreted as a single dispositional mindfulness continuum. The Judgmentally Observing and Non-Judgmentally Aware profiles were more present in the High Mindfulness profile post-MBSR. All profiles tended to display increased decentering, self-compassion, well-being, and positive states, while decreased negative states and psychological symptoms. Thus, MBSR seemed to "arrange" latent profiles in a continuum of overall mindfulness. MBSR seems to dissipate heterogeneities in the FFMQ, allocating its measurements to a more homogeneous continuum of mindfulness. Implications and recommendations for future studies are discussed.