The Brief Scale of Fear of Loneliness: Urdu Translation and Validation in Pakistani Culture

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to translate the Brief Scale of Fear of Loneliness (BSFL) into Urdu and establish the psychometric properties of this scale in Pakistani context. The translation process was carried out by a comprehensive forward-backward method. The pilot study was conducted with a sample of 20 participants to check for readability and cultural appropriateness. In the final study, 500 adults from Pakistan participated in this research, and all completed a web-based version of BSFL developed in Urdu. The selection for this study was carried out by using a convenience sampling method. The findings revealed the internal reliability of translated scale to be excellent with a value of .768. Values for model fit for Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) revealed satisfactory model fit: χ²/df=2.88, TNI=.981, IFI= .987, TLI= .968, CFI= .987, RMSEA= .05. Overall, results indicate that the Urdu BSFL is a culturally appropriate, reliable, and valid instrument that can be used both in research and applied settings to assess fear of loneliness among Pakistani adults.