The Scale of Body Connection: A Multisample Study to Examine Sensitivity to Change Among Mind-Body and Bodywork Interventions.

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this measurement study was to examine the Scale of Body Connection (SBC) sensitivity to change among mind-body or bodywork interventions and to explore the concurrent validity in relation to emotion dysregulation and mindfulness skills. Methods: This study was based on multiple clinical trials that had used the SBC to evaluate changes in body awareness (BA) and bodily dissociation (BD) in response to a mind-body or bodywork intervention. To test for sensitivity to change, t tests were used to examine change and estimate effect sizes. To explore convergent validity, Pearson's product-moment correlations between the SBC subscales and Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) were calculated among a subset of the studies, which also included these measures. Results: The BA and BD scales consistently detected significant positive responses to a range of intervention types (yoga, mindfulness meditation, BA, multimodal therapy, and bodywork), demonstrating SBC sensitivity to change. With a few exceptions, the effect sizes across studies for BA were above 0.35, indicating near moderate-to-large effect sizes. The effect sizes for BD, as a measure of responsiveness, were much smaller than for BA; however, four of the studies had effect sizes between 0.54 and 0.86. Concurrent validity with the DERS was supported by moderate-to-large correlations, and with the FFMQ, it was significant with the BA scale in one included study. Conclusions: The results of this study further establish SBC validity and sensitivity to change across a range of mind-body therapies and confirm prior findings of moderate-to-strong internal consistency reliability. The findings support the use of this brief scale to assess key dimensions of BA and BD in practice and research.