Adaptation and Validation of the Pet Bereavement Questionnaire (PBQ) for Chinese Population.

Simple Summary: Pet ownership is growing in Chinese societies, but tools to assess grief from pet loss among the Chinese are lacking. This study adapted and validated the Pet Bereavement Questionnaire (PBQ) in Hong Kong, which aimed to provide a culturally appropriate assessment tool for pet bereavement. The findings supported a three-factor structure—grief, anger, and guilt—similar to the original PBQ. The validated Chinese version of the PBQ demonstrated strong reliability, meaning it consistently measures what it is supposed to, and strong validity, meaning it accurately reflects the emotional experiences of pet loss. This tool can significantly enhance our understanding of the emotional complexities surrounding pet loss within this cultural context, offering critical insights that can guide more effective support interventions and public health strategies for individuals experiencing the often-unrecognized grief associated with pet loss. Despite the increasing prevalence of pet ownership in Chinese societies, standardized tools to assess grief from pet loss remain lacking. Research predominantly focuses on Western populations, creating a gap in understanding pet bereavement in Chinese cultural settings. This study aimed to adapt and validate the Pet Bereavement Questionnaire (PBQ-C) for a Chinese context to create a culturally appropriate assessment tool. A total of 246 participants with companion animal loss experiences were recruited through the university of the research team. They were invited to complete an online survey including the PBQ-C, the Depression subscale of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), and the Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG). Both Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were conducted to examine the psychometric properties of the PBQ-C and the findings supported a three-factor structure—grief, anger, and guilt—aligned with the original PBQ, with three items reassigned to different factors. Despite these adjustments, the PBQ-C demonstrated strong internal consistency, reflecting the reliability of the questionnaire in measuring the same construct across its items; split-half reliability, indicating its ability to produce consistent results when divided into two parts; and concurrent validity, showing that the PBQ-C correlates well with other established measures of grief. The validated PBQ-C provides a culturally sensitive tool for assessing pet bereavement in Chinese society that can promote research and counselling support for this under-researched and under-recognized type of loss of human-animal relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]