TRANSLATION AND PSYCHOMETRIC VALIDATION OF THE CLIMATE CHANGE ANXIETY SCALE (CCAS) IN A CLIMATE-AFFECTED POPULATION OF PAKISTAN

Abstract

Background:Anxiety related to climate change has become a big psychological issue, especially for people who are exposed to environmental risks and Unpredictable outcomes.A self-report tool called the Climate Change Anxiety Scale (CCAS) is used to evaluate cognitive, emotional, and functional impairment associated with climate change anxiety.The availability of an Urdu version of CCAS will support research and clinical assessment in Pakistan.Aim:The main goal of this study was to translate the Climate Change Anxiety Scale (CCAS) into Urdu and checkits preliminary psychometric qualities in a Pakistani population.Materialsand Method:The study was done herein Pakistan. The 22-item CCAS was translated into Urdu using basictranslation techniques. A sample of50bilingual subjects was used to measure cross-language concordance, and a different sample of 50 subjects was used to calculate test-retest reliability. A wider community sample, resulting in a total sample size of 265 participants,was used to assess internal consistency. The age range of the participants was early adulthood to late middle age.Statistical Analysis:Means and standard deviations were found outas descriptive statistics. The reliability of the Urdu version of CCAS was determined by calculating cross-language concordance, test-retest reliability, and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha).Results:The English and Urdu versions of CCAS showed a high degree of cross-linguistic equivalency. The Urdu version displayed good to exceptional internal consistency, and test-retest reliability coefficients indicatedreally good positive correlations.Conclusion:The results confirm that the Climate Change Anxiety Scale in Urdu is a helpful and usefultool for evaluating climate change anxiety in Pakistan.