Translation and validation of prolonged grief disorder (PG-13) scale in Urdu among bereaved adolescents with intellectual disability.
The Urdu PG-13 is ready to screen prolonged grief in Urdu-speaking teens with mild-to-moderate ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers translated the 13-item Prolonged Grief Disorder scale into Urdu. They then checked if the new version works for Pakistani teens with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability.
Caregivers answered the questions. The team ran stats to see if the scores were reliable and measured one clear thing.
What they found
The Urdu PG-13 showed very high internal consistency. All items stuck together as a single factor, just like the original English scale.
The study found positive results. The tool now passes basic psychometric tests for this group.
How this fits with other research
Hagopian et al. (2005) warned that grief after loss is common in people with ID, yet no good scale existed. The new Urdu PG-13 fills that exact gap the review highlighted.
Taylor et al. (2017) and Sobhy et al. (2022) also adapted questionnaires into local languages for neurodevelopmental samples. Their success stories match the current positive findings and show the process can work across cultures.
Leung et al. (2013) reached a similar reliability level in Chinese preschoolers. Both studies report alpha above .90, giving clinicians confidence that translated tools can keep their strength.
Why it matters
If you work with Urdu-speaking families, you now have a brief, free screen for prolonged grief. Use it after any death in the teen’s life. A high score signals the need for referral to grief counseling or psychiatry. No longer do you have to guess or rely on vague behavior changes.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The study aimed to translate and validate the Prolonged Grief Disorder (PG-13) scale from English into Urdu language. This involved examining its psychometric properties, evaluating its factor structure and assessing both convergent and discriminant validity. The study was conducted within the cultural context of Pakistan and focused on the assessment of manifestations of grief, including symptoms of prolonged grief, in adolescents with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability (ID). The PG-13 scale was selected for this study due to its demonstrated accuracy in measuring prolonged grieving symptoms in bereaved population. METHOD: A total of 140 adolescents, aged 10-19 years according to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2018 criteria, were selected from 14 cities in Pakistan. These participants had lost loved ones within the time span of the last 4 years. The WHO (2018) guidelines for translation, adaptation, and validation were followed. RESULTS: The findings suggest that the translated and validated PG-13 scale has adequate psychometric properties, with Cronbach alpha coefficient of .97. Confirmatory factor analysis supports a single-factor structure for the scale, with factor loadings ranging from .80 to .95. CONCLUSION: The PG-13 Urdu version is a reliable and validated scale available for assessing grieving symptoms in the Pakistani context.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2024 · doi:10.1111/jir.13131