URDU TRANSLATION AND ADAPTATION OF PATHOLOGICAL ALTRUISM

Abstract

Context: Pathological altruism refers to helping behaviors that lead to negative consequences for the self or others. Although the construct has been examined internationally, culturally validated instruments for assessing pathological altruism in Pakistani clinical populations remain limited.

Aims: The present study aimed to translate, culturally adapt, and examine the psychometric properties of the Pathological Altruism Scale developed by Kaufman and Jauk (2020) in a sample of Pakistani middle-aged adults (45–60 years) diagnosed with arthritis. Adverse childhood trauma was assessed using the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (Felitti et al., 1998), employing the Urdu version translated by Safdar and Bokhari (2015) to ensure linguistic and psychometric suitability.

Methods: A cross-sectional research design was employed. The Pathological Altruism Scale was translated into Urdu using a standardized forward–backward translation procedure, followed by expert panel review and cognitive pretesting. The sample comprised 200 adults with physician-diagnosed arthritis. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to examine construct validity, internal consistency reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, and criterion validity was evaluated through correlations with ACEs scores.

Results: Factor analyses supported a unidimensional structure of the Urdu Pathological Altruism Scale, explaining 48.6% of the total variance. The scale demonstrated good internal consistency (α = .84). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated acceptable model fit. Pathological altruism showed a significant positive association with adverse childhood experiences (r = .53, p < .001), supporting criterion validity.

Conclusion: The findings provide preliminary evidence that the Urdu version of the Pathological Altruism Scale is a reliable and valid measure for assessing maladaptive helping behaviors among Pakistani middle-aged adults with arthritis and may be useful for future research and clinical assessment.