Measuring Dimensions of Body Connection: Body Awareness and Bodily Dissociation

Abstract

This study aimed to test the preliminary psychometric properties of the Scale of Body Connection (SBC), a 20-item self-report measure, designed to assess body awareness and bodily dissociation in mind-body intervention research. The SBC items were based on common expressions of awareness in body therapy. Content validity was established by a panel of experts. The validity and reliability of the scale was examined with an undergraduate sample. To assess the scale's discriminant validity, the respondents were asked to indicate exposure to specific traumas. Confirmatory factor analysis, used to examine the scale's construct validity, indicated acceptable goodness-of-fit indices, and revealed uncorrelated subscales, reflecting independent dimensions. Cronbach's alpha revealed equal internal consistency reliability for each subscale for both men and women. Body awareness scores did not differ between individuals with and without reported trauma exposure. Bodily dissociation scores differed between individuals with and without past experience with physical trauma, suggesting the applicability of this subscale for use with populations with trauma histories. The results provide preliminary evidence of the construct validity and internal consistency reliability of the SBC.