Validation of a Spanish version of the Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (BEAQ) in clinical population.

Background: The Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (BEAQ) has been suggested as the most appropriate instrument for measuring experiential avoidance. However, no Spanish validation has been published. The aim of this study was to validate a Spanish version of the BEAQ in a clinical sample treated at a community mental health unit.

Methods: Participants ( N = 332) completed the BEAQ as well as other self-report measures of experiential avoidance and psychopathology.

Results: Internal consistency was satisfactory (α = .82). No statistically significant gender differences were found in the BEAQ scores. The data also showed high test-retest reliability after four to six weeks, acceptable concurrent validity with another experiential avoidance measure and acceptable convergent validity with the psychopathology measure. The principal component analysis, forcing the one factor solution proposed in the original scale, produced indicators similar to the English version of the BEAQ.

Conclusions: These results firmly support the reliability and validity of this Spanish validation, stressing its usefulness as a measure of experiential avoidance in clinical populations.