Abstract:
The current study's aim was to translate and adapt the FRIENDS resilience program's Fun
FRIENDS activity book into Urdu with the purpose to establish cultural equivalence in order to
make it culturally appropriate and usable for Pakistani children. The study was carried out by
adapting the activity book using the planned adaptation approach as well as the cultural
adaptation approach. Review of the translated content was carried out by special interest groups
and stakeholders to see whether the equivalences (semantic, conceptual and normative) had been
maintained. The pictorial adaptation was carried out by following the same adaptation
approaches and incorporation of the theoretical framework of FRIENDS program. The translated
activity book can be used as an effective measure to promote prevention science in Pakistani
culture while also providing a flexible, cost-effective, time-efficient, and resilience-building
program for the children of Pakistan. It would be an effective measure for children to reduce
anxiety and adult life socioemotional problems. This intervention would provide an opportunity
for promoting mental health of Pakistani children and reducing the treatment gap in mental
health care. Future researches can show the effects of prevention science and resilience building
on children in Pakistan and around the world.
