Assessing Psychological Detachment in Pakistani Workers: Psychometric Properties of the Recovery Experience Questionnaire applied on Sialkot Population

Abstract

This study reports such a case in Sialkot, Pakistan. The psychological detachment subscale of the Recovery Experience Questionnaire (REQ) showed catastrophic measurement failure Cronbach’s α = .34, KMO = .57, a single factor explaining only 33.4% of item variance, and non-significant loadings for three of four items  in 300 working women. This converges with Panthee et al.'s (2020) finding of theoretically reversed detachment associations among Nepalese hospital nurses, the only other verified South Asian evaluation of this subscale. All four REQ subscales fell below research-use reliability thresholds individually, and the 16-item total reached only borderline-acceptable reliability (α = .72)  a low value for a 16-item instrument that suggests the REQ's problems in this population may extend beyond detachment alone. A planned mediation analysis testing whether detachment explains the insomnia-cognitive flexibility relationship is reported for transparency only: no bivariate relationships or indirect effect reached significance, a null pattern equivalence testing supported at a study-specific bound but not at a stricter conventional one. A systematic check of 13 demographic variables against all outcomes (39 tests) found no correction-surviving subgroup pattern. One exploratory finding on an equally unreliable subscale Mastery correlated with cognitive flexibility (r = .17, p = .004)  is noted only as a lead for replication. We argue the detachment construct, as currently operationalized, requires cultural adaptation rather than translation before valid use in South Asian working populations, with direct implications for occupational health surveillance and workplace mental health screening in under-studied regions.