Urdu Translation and Cultural Adaptation of the Drug Use Disorder Identification Test (DUDIT)

Abstract

The Research aimed to investigate that Substance abuse is one of the most serious psychosocial problems worldwide since it has effects not only on the abuser's physical and psychological health but also on their relational functioning (Esteban et al., 2023). The current research aims to validate and demonstrate the psychometric properties of the Urdu version of DUDIT using a clinical sample of addiction patients. The research is based on two objectives: the cross-cultural adaptation of the Drug Use Disorder Identification Test (DUDIT) in the native language and the establishment of its psychometric properties. The adaptation method used is based on Brislin's 1970 method, which follows the following steps. Forward translation is conceptualized by the committee, then subject-matter experts assess its equivalence, and finally, backward translation is conducted with different committee members to check the scale's exactness, after which the translated scale is finalized to assess its psychometric properties. The research consists of three parts: the first part, translation along with adaptation; the second step was Pilot Testing and Cross-Language Validation of the scale, and the third step was to determine the psychometric properties. The test Re-test reliability, split-half reliability, and inter-item reliability are established. Furthermore, the Discriminant and the concurrent validity are also established. The sample was selected through a purposive sampling method, divided into N=30 (for cross-language validation) and   N=130 (for Psychometric properties). Additionally, there was a strong correlation with test-retest reliability of 0.95. Participants consisted of substance users in the rehabilitation process in different addiction treatment centers of Karachi, Pakistan. The age ranges from 18 to 45 years. The results indicate that the cross-language validation of the DUDIT Urdu version scale is highly significant (p<.01).  The Severity of Dependence Scale (Martin et al., 2006) is used to check the concurrent validity. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS) (Tennant et al., 2007) is used to assess well-being. Whereas Information gathered through survey forms. The result has been dissected through Pearson product-moment correlation. This concentrates on the inference that Drug use really does affect an individual's mental well-being. The Urdu translated version of the DUDIT scale is a valid and reliable assessment tool and conceptually equivalent to the original DUDIT scale.