Personal Agency Research Articles

What does it mean to “do your own research?” A comparative content analysis of DYOR messages in Instagram and Facebook posts about reproductive health, food, and vaccines

Calls to “do your own research” (DYOR) on social media promote a range of claims, from expert-recommended treatments to conspiracy theories. Exploring how the slogan is used offers insight into how individuals navigate concerns about information accuracy in an abundant but low-trust media ecosystem. This quantitative content analysis investigates how DYOR messages in Facebook and Instagram posts about reproductive health, food and diet, and vaccination are used to raise alarms, promote personal agency, and disclaim responsibility. We additionally examine how DYOR messages are associated with content including risk information and product promotion. While DYOR messages sometimes raise alarms about suspected conspiracies and misinformation, more often they advocate for personal agency and education, encouraging people to become as informed as possible to make the best decisions for themselves. In this way, DYOR messages promote individual responsibility for navigating information risks and reflect wider concerns about (mis-)information and distrust of institutions.

Constructing General Human Agency Indicators (GHAIs) and a General Personal Agency Scale (GPAS)

AbstractDespite its importance for the social sciences, human agency remains an ambiguous and underoperationalized construct. After engaging prior research to articulate clear criteria for defining agency and synthesize a multidimensional conceptual framework for human agency, this study develops and validates preliminary General Human Agency Indicators (GHAIs) to measure subconstructs within that framework. Utilizing the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) dataset, we aggregated a list of 30 survey items previously used in agency research and conducted an iterative process of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and item elimination to reduce that list to a set of 9–13 items with a strong, consistent factorial structure. Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), we identified two bifactor models that demonstrated good fit: a nine-item General Personal Agency scale (GPAS) and a nine-item GHAIs tool combining six items from the GPAS with three measuring agency achievement. Initial evidence for the construct validity of the tools was produced through tests of internal consistency and correlational analysis, indicating that the proposed GPAS and GHAIs effectively measure personal agency, intrinsic agency, instrumental agency, and agency achievement.

Guiding Educational Designers in partnership with Gen AI

The journey to becoming an Educational Designer (ED) can be daunting – creating many feelings, the most popular of those being imposter syndrome (Pingo et al., 2024). These feelings, although mostly not validated, create subjective hindrances to participating in and contributing to the field (Sage & Sankey, 2021). This poster explores a partnership with Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) as a way to provide a scaffold for anyone new to the field. To do this, one of the author’s own journey to becoming an ED is used as an example to create a blueprint of how to navigate new terrain. By partnering with GenAI (i.e., ChatGPT), the authors use an emic lens to survey a journey through three distinct eras (Beals et al., 2020). These eras evolved from the intersection of professional, personal and environmental influences and captures a newcomers’ introduction to the field situated in the professional space of higher education. The narrated data captured via subjective reflections of lived experiences, are transcribed and then partnered with ChatGPT to be thematically analysed. The authors then engage an etic lens to objectively use media (e.g., newspapers, magazines, videos, etc.) to illustrate the journey using the themes to gain more meaning towards personal agency for the profession (Méndez, 2013). This autoethnography creates great insight into how a newcomer can uniquely and individually create a self-serving map to increase a sense of belonging by partnering with a non-human intelligence tool. Using ChatGPT reduces the feelings of being judged – the feelings associated with imposter syndrome - yet creating a path that may not be seen without such an intervention. By leveraging human-influenced algorithms almost like a mentor, GenAI can identify patterns and themes in the narratives that might be overlooked by human analysis – a symbiosis of autoethnography and GenAI (McNally et al., 2022). Adopting autoethnography as a method to navigate professional, social and cultural terrains, via an emic and etic lens of lived experiences, personal vignettes and introspection provide the qualitative inputs to be examined and interpreted (Beals et al., 2020; Méndez, 2013). The second step in this research involves the use of GenAI as a tool for analysing and interpreting this self-reflective data (Boulus-Rødje et al., 2024). This research strategy holds relevance for educational designers and the wider community of third-space professionals, particularly those who may be new to the field or navigating a career transition. It will demonstrate the potential of GenAI as a tool for interpreting and applying autoethnographic data in a practical, actionable way. The insights generated could inform the development of GenAI-driven tools and resources that support educational designers to develop their professional identity. By highlighting the value of transferable skills and experiences through a resulting blueprint, the mapping of the imposter-syndrome-like feelings among third space professionals could be mitigated. This will allow for transformations of self-perceptions to aid in the recognition of one’s unique contributions to confidently engage with the profession and the field.

Forming Shared Interest Pods: Barriers to Self-Assembly of Interest-Based Small Groups, and Dynamics of Retaining and Giving up Control to Find Collective Fit

We explore the challenges individuals face when seeking like-minded partners to pursue shared interests in small groups, specifically outside the workplace, classroom, or other externally organized contexts. Conducting nine 90-minute semi-structured interviews involving a hypothetical small group formation process, we found four compounding challenges that make it difficult to form and maintain stable groups. In contrast to other kinds of small groups discussed in the literature, the unique "combination" of these challenges bring into focus a class of interest-based small groups we term " shared interest pods ": self-assembled small groups united by shared interests, whose members derive benefits from sustained, synchronous interactions that hinge on the level of fit among them. The need to discover and maintain collective fit, the considerable commitment required for regular interactions, their small size, and the lack of external enforcement, makes shared interest pods fragile and unstable, and an information-rich site for studying dynamics of self-organized consensus-seeking in underexplored areas of Lee and Paine's Model of Coordinated Action, and for considering the tension between supporting personal agency through organic group formation and optimizing stability through algorithmic assignments. A central finding is how dynamics of maintaining and giving up control co-exist in shared interest pods in their search for collective fit. People seek to maintain control over certain aspects of finding fit (e.g. in determining group membership), but are simultaneously willing to give up control to organizers or algorithms under certain conditions (e.g. when balancing desired quality with social and ethical considerations). We discuss design implications for supporting the formation of shared interest pods, and more broadly, for exploring self-organized consensus-seeking in other societal collective decision-making contexts.

The Loss of Autonomy in Eating Disorder Treatment: A Patient Perspective.

In this text, the author's lived experiences as a youth with anorexia nervosa, anxiety, and depression are explored. Experiences with accessing North American health services, both in specialized eating disorder (ED) and disordered eating (DE) settings, as well as in healthcare more broadly are shared. This work seeks to shed light on a patient perspective in mental health and to draw attention to some of the ways that the current framings of EDs and DE within the biomedical system might perpetuate harm. In this piece, a collection of the author's lived-experiences and interactions with the healthcare system are explored. The medical framing of EDs as a defect of both mind and body can jeopardize one's autonomy and contribute to a sense of hopelessness. As mental health treatment increasingly prioritizes evidence-based approaches and standardized practices, there is a growing concern that this shift risks undermining the autonomy of those it aims to support. The dualistic conceptualizations of mental and physical health in ED/DE treatment, at times, can cause harm, particularly for those who do not present with the physical manifestations of an ED/DE but remain largely affected in day-to-day life. The imposition of rigid treatment regimens can inadvertently diminish personal agency, overshadowing the nuanced, individualized needs and preferences of patients. Lived experience narratives encompass the personal, subjective insights of individuals navigating mental health challenges, in turn, providing invaluable insight that conventional methods may overlook.

Shaping Futures: The Impact of Childhood Gender Socialization on Self-Empowerment among Single Mothers

This article critically investigates the nuanced interplay between childhood gender socialization and its long-term implications for self-empowerment in single mothers. It dissects the pervasive influence of societal gender norms, entrenched through early education, media portrayals, and formative family interactions, and how these norms shape the empowerment narrative of single mothers navigating the complexities of solo parenthood. Central to this examination is the role of gender-specific expectations established in childhood that potentially delineate and limit the scope of personal agency and autonomy later in life. By integrating qualitative anecdotes with quantitative data, this study elucidates the challenges and resilience inherent to single motherhood, underpinned by the gendered experiences ingrained from childhood. This article aims to highlight the transformative potential of redefining traditional gender roles, advocating for systemic support, and fostering inclusive communities that enhance the self-sufficiency and empowerment of single mothers across diverse socio-economic backgrounds. Through this lens, we offer insights into the potential for policy interventions, educational reforms, and supportive social structures to mitigate the restrictive impacts of gendered upbringing, thereby contributing to the broader discourse on gender equality and empowerment.

Posttraumatic Growth after Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection: A Mixed-Methods Study

Abstract Background: Heart attacks caused by spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) are traumatic events. While stressful, traumatic events can also be catalysts for positive growth. Aims: This study investigated the nature, prevalence, and correlates of posttraumatic growth (PTG) after SCAD. Methods: A mixed-methods approach was used. Part 1 involved seven focus groups with SCAD survivors (n = 30), the findings of which were analyzed thematically. Part 2 involved an online survey of SCAD survivors (n = 263), which included the PTG inventory (PTGI). Bivariate and multivariable analyses determined the significant correlates of PTG after SCAD. Results: Part 1 revealed four key themes, namely appreciating life and living in the moment, personal agency, new work-life balance, and spiritual clarity. Part 2 demonstrated that 79% of participants reported some degree of PTG. The mean total PTGI score was 46.4; standard deviation = 25.5. In terms of PTGI factors, the most common aspects of growth were appreciation of life and personal strength. PTG was significantly associated (P < 0.05) with education, partner status, living arrangements, presence of a close confidante, social support, time since SCAD, number of SCADs, and cardiac rehabilitation (CR) attendance. Variables retained in the multivariable model were younger age, mid-level education, high social support, being nondepressed, longer time since SCAD, greater number of SCADs, and CR attendance. Conclusion: This is the first study to demonstrate that, despite the associated stresses and challenges, there is a great potential for positive growth after SCAD. These findings have implications for the development and targeting of interventions to support post-SCAD recovery.

Trajectories of personal agency by gender and pubertal development among adolescents in Kinshasa: Longitudinal evidence from the GlobalEarly Adolescent Study

BackgroundEmpowerment research has largely focused on adult women with little focus on younger adolescents. Additionally, despite recognition that empowerment is a process, few studies have longitudinally explored its development. MethodsWe used secondary data from four waves of the Global Early Adolescent Study to explore trajectories in the development of three domains of agency (i.e. the internal processes composing empowerment) - Freedom of Movement, Voice, and Decision-Making - for 1188 boys and 1153 girls in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Respondents were age 10–14 at enrollment and followed through age 14–18. We created scales for each domain and conducted gender- and age-stratified latent growth curve modeling with random effects, comparing age 10–14 to age 15–18, accounting for clustering within individuals over waves. We examined the role of puberty within each domain in the analysis of age 10–14. ResultsScores across all domains increased with age for boys and girls, with the exception of Voice amongst boys 10–14. Rates of change varied by age group and gender; for boys, scores increased at a faster rate for older boys relative to younger boys for Freedom of Movement (ß(10-14): 3.98 versus ß(15-18): 6.12) and Voice (ß(10-14): .50 versus ß(15-18): 2.54). Relative to younger girls, scores amongst older girls increased at a faster rate for Freedom of Movement (ß(10-14): 1.76 versus ß(15-18): 3.72) and a slower rate for Decision-Making (ß(10-14): 6.41 versus ß(15-18): 2.80). Puberty was associated with significant increases in scores across all domains for both genders, with the exception of Decision-Making for girls. InterpretationYoung people develop/acquire different forms of agency at different stages of adolescence and development is not uniform across forms. Gender inequalities in agency amplify at puberty, signaling the need to intervene at or before this critical stage of development.

Personal Agency and Career Development of Adolescent Learners

Personal Agency and Career Development of Adolescent Learners

Painting workshops for people living with dementia as a means of expression and communication: revelations from our elders

Purpose This study aims to explore art workshops for people living with dementia as a process enabling creative expression and fostering communication with others. Design/methodology/approach To enable detailed exploration of the expressive powers of painting and drawing, the authors draw several examples from a series of painting workshops for people living with dementia, which formed part of the PPI for research into experiences of restraint within care. Findings Artwork enabled personal expression, facilitated conversation with others and revealed hidden knowledge and abilities, but also revealed dangers of miscommunication, specifically here related to technological changes and spirituality. Research limitations/implications Individual differences in responses to painting will exist meaning that the specific findings outlined here are unique to individuals and not always generalisable. This follows from the quality of the individual communication that may be enabled by painting, meaning that close attention to each person is both fostered and required. Practical implications Art activities can provide a means to enable deep personal expression and agency in people living with dementia, which can contribute to countering dehumanisation. Social implications Attention to the process of painting can be beneficial in fostering verbal and non-verbal communication with individuals who have difficulties in communication. Attention to cultural issues in care needs to incorporate understanding of spiritual and religious issues and take note of gaps in understanding related to technological as well as cultural changes between generations. Originality/value Much work in this area explores art activities for people living with dementia in terms of beneficial outcomes. This work explores the creative process inherent in painting, drawing upon insights from art theory and providing in-depth individual insights through case studies. Both researchers in this study are artists and the work drew upon their understanding of the processes of painting.

The Undergraduate Engineering Mental Health Help‐Seeking Instrument (UE‐MH‐HSI): Development and validity evidence

AbstractBackgroundUndergraduate engineering students experiencing distress are less likely than peers to ask for professional help. A population‐specific instrument to facilitate the identification of factors that influence mental healthcare utilization could guide development and testing of interventions to increase help seeking.PurposeWe used mixed methods guided by the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) to develop and evaluate the Undergraduate Engineering Mental Health Help‐Seeking Instrument (UE‐MH‐HSI).MethodFirst, we adapted existing measures of mental health help‐seeking intention and mechanisms (i.e., attitudes, perceived norm: injunctive, perceived norm: descriptive, personal agency: autonomy, personal agency: capacity). Second, we coded qualitative interviews (N = 33) to create population‐specific mental health help‐seeking belief measures (i.e., outcome beliefs, experiential beliefs, beliefs about others' expectations, beliefs about others' behavior, beliefs about barriers and facilitators). Third, we tested the psychometric properties using data from 596 undergraduate engineering students at a historically White, research‐focused institution in southern United States.ResultsPsychometric analyses indicated that (1) help‐seeking mechanism and intention measures demonstrated unidimensionality, internal consistency, construct replicability, and sufficient variability; (2) mechanism measures demonstrated criterion evidence of validity; and (3) most items within the belief measures demonstrated sufficient variability and convergent evidence of validity.ConclusionsThe UE‐MH‐HSI is an evidence‐based tool for investigating mental health help‐seeking factors and their relationship to help‐seeking behavior, well‐being, academic success, and engineering identity formation. Guidelines for use are provided.

The integrated behavioral model of mental health help seeking (IBM-HS): A health services utilization theory of planned behavior for accessing care.

This article introduces the integrated behavioral model of mental health help seeking (IBM-HS), a theoretical model for understanding the constructs (e.g., systemic, predisposing, and enabling factors; mental health literacy; illness perceptions; perceived need; stigma; shame; perceived benefits, motivation) that influence people's decision making around seeking professional mental health care and their ultimate access to formal treatment. The IBM-HS is a help-seeking-specific adaptation of the empirically supported integrated behavioral model and integrative model, which are themselves evolutions of the theory of planned behavior and theory of reasoned action. The IBM-HS posits that help-seeking determinants (e.g., structural forces; cultural influences; past help-seeking experience; evaluated need; mental health perceptions, knowledge, and skills; social support) influence help-seeking beliefs (i.e., outcome beliefs, experiential beliefs, beliefs about others' expectations, beliefs about others' behavior, logistical beliefs), which in turn determine their respective help-seeking mechanisms (i.e., attitude, perceived norm, personal agency). These mechanisms collectively influence help-seeking intention, which drives prospective help-seeking behavior, subject to the moderating effects of determinants. Finally, prospective behavior has reciprocal feedback loop effects on certain determinants and beliefs. This article describes the need for the IBM-HS, the model's constructs and their interrelations, measurement considerations, and how the model can be used by scholarly and applied users to systematically understand people's intention to seek professional mental health care services and what helps or hinders them from utilizing this care. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Adolescent Agency in Collectivist Cultures: Development and Validation of Personal Agency in Adolescence Scale (PAAS) among Indian School Students

Adolescents exercise personal agency as they plan their life, set goals, make decisions, and perform various actions that define their life course. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a scale measuring the personal agency of adolescents in a collectivist culture, namely, India. Moreover, we integrated key concepts from the existing literature and considered the sociocultural experiences. The newly constructed scale’s psychometric properties were tested on two samples of adolescents aged between 14 and 17 from rural and urban areas. The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) conducted on sample 1 (N = 571) demonstrated that the proposed six-factor model of the Personal Agency in Adolescence Scale (PAAS) was relevant to measure adolescent personal agency. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) performed on sample 2 (N = 499) showed that the six-factor model had good construct validity and that the 23-item scale could adequately measure the construct. The results also supported the internal consistency and reliability of the scale. Further, the scale’s concurrent validity with other agency scales was established. Bivariate analysis showed moderate and positive correlations with other related scales. PAAS was also moderately correlated with adolescents’ self-esteem and psychological well-being. The findings show that PAAS is a valid and reliable scale that can be employed to assess adolescents’ agency. This tool can be used by those in education, counselling, and research to measure the adolescents’ exercise of personal agency and its relations to other psychological constructs.

Making Life Choices: An Evaluation of a University-Based Identity Intervention Program

ABSTRACT This paper reports on the evaluation of a university-based identity intervention program aimed at helping college students identify and resolve their unique identity issues. The intervention is delivered as a personal growth psychology course that is entirely online and asynchronous, and it is rooted in Erikson’s theory of life-span development. Still, it borrows heavily from the influences of existentialism, critical theory and pragmatism. Intervention outcomes from 2015 through 2023 (N = 984) are evaluated. Improvements in identity exploration and commitment were related to decreased identity distress and positive changes in self-esteem, purpose in life, locus of control, self-actualization, and ego strength. The intervention was partially based on the premise that encouraging the value of accepting personal agency and taking responsibility for one’s life would foster positive change. Improvements in feelings of control and responsibility were associated with positive movement in stages of change. Further analyses and their implications are discussed.

Teaching and learning for sustainable futures: Reclaiming, collaboration and empathy

Introducing community engagement to my annual class of Visual Art honours students has become increasingly challenging. There is a healthy resistance to the perception of ‘cultural tourism’, and students are sensitive to the idea of entering a community as voyeurs with the perception of privileged “saviours”. I offer a particular example of an emerging annual exchange with the African Reclaimers Organisation (ARO), who have partnered with the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in a range of projects that can add value to upcycling of collected and sorted waste products. The pervasive news of corruption, violence, and rolling blackouts undermines well-being and increasingly perpetuates despair, apathy, or distraction. In this climate, a question of response in an educational environment is pertinent. How does one teach and learn about sustainable futures? How can educators foster empathy, agency, and activism among students? This article draws on ecology activist and scholar Dylan McGarry’s expanded concept of transgressive social learning using skills transfer through an apprenticeship, which is helpful in framing a model of teaching and learning based on social exchange. Including selected student reflections, the paper considers methods and practices that model ways to develop various forms of personal and social agency through exploring empathetic encounters.

Personal Agency, Personal Identity, and Danto's Philosophy of Action†

Personal Agency, Personal Identity, and Danto's Philosophy of Action^†

Intrusion of the other: identity, ethics and transplantation in Sui Ishida’s Tokyo Ghoul

This essay examines the profound themes and complex narratives presented in Sui Ishida’s Tokyo Ghoul, focusing on the illegal xenotransplantation and the transformation of the protagonist, Ken Kaneki, as he...

P157 THE USE OF PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH TO PROMOTE INCREASED CONSUMPTION OF VEGETABLES AMONG AFRICAN WOMEN WITH/AT RISK OF HYPERTENSION IN GQEBERHA, SOUTH AFRICA

Background and objectives: Poor vegetable and fruit intake are reported in multiple studies of the South African population, especially among people with less income and lower educational status and it is a known risk factor for non-communicable diseases such as hypertension. “South Africa has one of the highest levels of hypertension globally, coupled with poor rates of diagnosis, treatment and control” Ware et al., (2019). It has been suggested that indigenous vegetables may aid in increasing vegetable intake, a recommendation of the South African Food Based Dietary Guidelines. As urbanisation and the nutrition transition increases in South Africa, the loss of indigenous knowledge and utilisation of indigenous vegetables is significant and is worse compared to countries such as Kenya and Tanzania. The aim of this study was to collaboratively promote the use of indigenous vegetables by African women in a peri-urban area with/at risk of hypertension with the goal of improving agency to increase vegetable intake. Methods: A qualitative participatory action research (PAR) methodology was utilised. African adult women with hypertension or at risk of hypertension were recruited from a local healthcare facility for a one year long project, with a total enrolment of 12-24 participants. Data collection included observations, focus groups, key informant interviews and the research journal of the researcher. Results: Participants worked collaboratively to co-construct relevant nutrition education materials, recipe development using local indigenous vegetables, clinic open day and a seminar for other community members. There was greater uptake of vegetable gardening at home and at the local community centre. Conclusions: using PAR methodologies to address inadequate vegetable intake and promote the use of indigenous vegetable crops may benefit personal agency which includes an individual's perceptions about how much control they have over themselves and their environment, in order to carry out a certain behaviour; self-confidence or efficacy; the ability to self-regulate and monitor behaviour and the ability to identify and use good coping skills.

10-year outcome trajectories of people with mental illness and their families who receive services from multidisciplinary case management and outreach teams: protocol of a multisite longitudinal study

IntroductionIndividuals with mental illness and their families often undergo their recovery process in their communities. This study explored the long-term outcome trajectories of individuals and families who received case management...

A Longitudinal Study of Cultural Consonance, Personal Agency, and Psychological Distress in Urban Brazil.

The relationship between culture, as a set of norms that structure human social practice, and agency, as the human capacity to act, has been debated for decades. Achieving clarity in how these constructs intersect has been hampered by difficulty in measuring either one, and theory has not suggested how a model linking culture and agency might be specified. We present a model in which culture is measured as cultural consonance, or the degree to which individuals actually incorporate prototypes for behavior encoded in cultural models into their own behavior. This measurement is then integrated with a measure of individuals' sense of personal agency. In a previous study in urban Brazil, we found that personal agency was associated with higher cultural consonance, which in turn was associated with lower psychological distress; however, those data were from a cross-sectional survey, thus limiting the causal inference. Here we present the results of a follow-up study in which a subset of respondents was re-interviewed on average four years later. These data are consistent with a model in which cultural consonance is the proximate causal influence on psychological distress, while personal agency is a distal or exogenous influence. The implications of these results for the relative roles of culture and agency as influences on subjective well-being are discussed.