Psychometric evaluation of the Swedish Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory (MPFI)

Cogn Behav Ther. 2023 Jul;52(4):295-316. doi: 10.1080/16506073.2022.2153077. Epub 2022 Dec 23.

Abstract

Psychiatric disorders are common, and reliable measures are crucial for research and clinical practice. A cross-diagnostic construct that can be used to index treatment outcomes as well as prevalence of psychological ill health is psychological flexibility. The aim of this study was to validate a Swedish version of the Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory (MPFI). The MPFI has 12 subscales, six of which measure flexibility, and six that measure inflexibility. Using confirmatory factor analysis in a community sample of 670 participants, we found that a model with two higher order factors had satisfactory fit (CFI = .933) and a 12-factor model had the best fit to the data (CFI = .955). All 12 subscales showed adequate reliability (CRs = .803-.933) and the factor structure was similar across age groups and gender. Findings suggest that the Swedish version of the MPFI is a reliable instrument that can be used to index psychological flexibility. Potential areas for improvement of the instrument are discussed.

Keywords: AAQ-II; ACT; AFQ; DERS-16; GHQ-12; MPFI; Psychological flexibility; SWLS; behaviour change processes; contextual behavioural science; psychological inflexibility.

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Mental Disorders* / diagnosis
  • Psychometrics
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Sweden