Development of a Coding Scheme for Interpersonal Mindfulness in Couple Dyads: Ratings of Observed Mindful Partnering

Mindfulness has well-documented benefits for mental, physical, and relational health. However, research about the role of mindfulness in health has scarcely explored interpersonal mindfulness, a distinct type of mindfulness expressed externally and relationally in interpersonal interactions. Mindfulness is known to be beneficial in romantic relationships but has been underexplored to date. A new interpersonal mindfulness construct known as "mindful partnering" (MP) presents a comprehensive application of interpersonal mindfulness to romantic relationships. This study advances research on MP by providing an improved conceptualization of the construct and an observational coding scheme, the Ratings of Observed Mindful Partnering (ROMP) system. Results showed that the ROMP has strong interrater reliability at the level of suggested analysis, supporting the idea that interpersonal mindfulness is observable, and initial tests of validity indicated convergent validity of this measurement tool for the MP construct. We suggest that this tool is potentially useful for clinicians and future research.