Psychometric properties of the Assessment Tool for Perceived Agency (ATPA-22) – utility for the rehabilitation of young adults not in education, employment or training (NEETs)

Abstract

Background: Promoting and supporting agency have been at the heart of the debate multidisciplinary. To promote self-awareness of young people' agency and identify persons in need of support the Assessment Tool for Perceived Agency (ATPA-22) was developed.Aim: This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the ATPA-22.Participants were young adults not in education, employment or training (NEETs) and students in higher education (HEI). Materials and methods:The main data analysis was implemented by Many Faceted Rasch (MFR) analysis. Results:The ATPA-22 items defined a unidimensional construct with reasonable internal consistency and separation ability. The ATPA-22 was capable of detecting differences between HEI students and young adult NEETs.Nine differential functioning items emerged between the groups.Conclusions: ATPA-22 shows promise as a tool to assess young adults' perceived agency. Anyhow, as the individual life situation affects strongly to perceived agency, research on the stability of the ATPA-22 among different populations is needed. Significance:The purpose of the ATPA-22 is to measure perceived agency of individuals, and to identify aspects of agency in need for support. ATPA-22 can be used as a tool for promoting self-awareness of occupational challenges.

How Do We Assess How Agentic We Are? A Literature Review of Existing Instruments to Evaluate and Measure Individuals' Agency

“…No consensus has been found concerning its connections to notions such as the ones of autonomy, internal locus of control, and competence (Beyers et al, 2003;Steckermeier, 2019;Williams & Merten, 2014). Indeed, some emphasize aspects of agency such as independence, freedom, and autonomy (Lautamo et al, 2021;Smith et al, 2000), while others stress its correlation to the individual's perception of control over their environment (Bentley-Edwards, 2016;Bryan et al, 2014). Similarly, there is a lack of agreement regarding the importance of 'structural opportunities' in which the person lives (Hitlin & Elder, 2006;Zimmerman et al, 2019), the constraints of social and historical contexts (Lautamo et al, 2021), and their influence on a person's ability to act upon them (Steeckermeier, 2019;Veronese et al, 2019aVeronese et al, , 2019bVeronese et al, , 2020aVeronese et al, , 2020b) (see Table 2 for a comprehensive list of the various agency definitions found).…”

“…Of these, eight focused on a population of children, youth, or adolescents in different countries: three in the United States (Hitlin & Elder, 2006;Poteat et al, 2018;Williams & Merten, 2014), two in Palestine (Veronese et al, 2019a(Veronese et al, , 2019b(Veronese et al, , 2020a(Veronese et al, , 2020b, one in Belgium (Beyers et al, 2003), and in the last two the data were coming from several countries (Steckermeier, 2019;Zimmerman et al, 2019). In contrast, three targeted the general adult population, both female and male, with two studies conducted in the United States (Bryan et al, 2014;Smith et al, 2000) and one in Finland (Lautamo et al, 2021). Finally, the remaining eleven studies explored agency within exclusively female samples.…”

“…Of the studies reviewed, three were aimed at measuring agency in the adult population, ranging from 18 to 93 years old (Bryan et al, 2014;Lautamo et al, 2021;Smith et al, 2000). As with children and youth, we find the construct is conceptualized in a variety of ways.…”

Developing a hope-focused intervention to prevent mental health problems and improve social outcomes for young women who are not in education, employment or training (NEET): A qualitative co-design study in deprived coastal communities in South-East England

“…The greater risks for becoming and staying NEET, with poorer outcomes, for different demographic groups can be at least partially explained by attitudinal differences (Lautamo et al, 2021;Zuccotti & O'Reilly, 2018). There is additionally evidence for a reciprocal relationship between NEET status and mental health symptoms, where the perception (from oneself and others) of failing to 'keep up' can be harmful to mental health and discourage service use and social re-engagement (Lautamo et al, 2021;Zuccotti & O'Reilly, 2018).…”

Measuring agency in children: The development and validation of the War Child Agency Assessment Scale - Palestinian version (WCAAS-Pal)

“…In a recent literature review exploring the existing tools for measuring agency within different age groups and contexts (Cavazzoni et al, 2021a ), the authors highlighted the absence of shared instruments for its assessment. Moreover, they have shown how research has primarily focused on constructing and validating instruments on the adult or female population (e.g., ATPA-22, Assessment Tool for Perceived agency; WAS-61, Women’s Agency Scale) (Lautamo et al, 2021 ; Yount et al, 2020 ), with few systematic efforts directed to assess children’s agency (Hitlin & Elder Jr, 2007 ; Veronese et al, 2019 ; Zimmerman et al, 2019 ). Among these, some attempts have addressed agency in its single aspect (e.g., political agency; agency in education) (Habashi & Worley, 2009 ; Burger & Walk, 2016 ; Reeve & Tseng, 2011 ), while others have emphasized the need to measure it in its multidimensionality, thus investigating it within the different dimensions in which it unfolds (Richardson et al, 2019 ).…”