Adaptation, Translation and Psychometric Properties of Gaslight Questionnaire in Urdu Language

Abstract

Translation and adaptation of an instrument measuring a certain construct in a specific culture has a scope in the field of psychological testing. To measure a psychological construct, a standardized test is used. Native language inventories produce effective and valid results as compared to foreign inventories. Gaslighting Questionnaire for measuring emotional abuse among married individuals was translated into Urdu language for use with the Pakistani population. The study was comprised of two phases, one is cross language validation and second is establishing psychometric properties of translated scale. For cross language validation, sample of n=40; males= 5, females= 35, bilingual married males and females through purposive sampling technique, was drawn from different cities of Pakistan. A sample of n= 316 of married males, n= 104; and females, n= 212, age ranged from 18 to 64 years, was drawn through snowball sampling technique for establishing the psychometric properties.  Correlation between Urdu to Urdu, English to English, Urdu to English and English to Urdu indicated that the cross-language validation was highly significant (p<.01). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFI = .92; ?2 = 303.50) indicated the good and acceptable model fit indices. The translated version is exactly alike the original version in conceptual equivalence. It is a reliable and valid instrument to measure the gaslighting phenomenon in married population of Pakistan as Urdu is native language and more easily comprehendible. Most of the Pakistani population is not very literate and use of difficult words from English language would influence the measurement of the phenomenon.