Aaron M. Eakman

The Relative Impact of Personality Traits, Meaningful Occupation and Occupational Value on Meaning in Life and Life Satisfaction

Occupational science has held a peripheral interest in the role personality traits may serve in influencing peoples engagement in occupation. Like occupation, personality has been identified as a significant factor in explaining personal well-being within the social sciences. Recent models implicate personality, personal projects or life tasks, and personal narrative as three essential layers for understanding human experience. The present study explored how personality traits are related to meaningful occupation and occupational value (two complementary perspectives on occupational experience) and to well-being. In a sample of 224 undergraduate and graduate students from a Mountain-West university in the USA, measures of the Big Five personality traits, life satisfaction and meaning in life were evaluated in relation to the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey (EMAS) and the Occupational Value Assessment with Predefined Items (OVal-pd). This study demonstrated that personality variables help to explain variance within the EMAS and OVal-pd, and measures of well-being. However, meaningful occupation and occupational value were the single most significant variables explaining life satisfaction and meaning in life in their respective regression models. The findings of this study add to the knowledge base of occupational science by showing that personality traits likely influence, but do not define, perceptions of meaningful occupation and occupational value; and occupational meaning and occupational value are useful constructs for exploring the influence of occupation upon personal well-being.

Convergent Validity of the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey in a College Sample

The Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey (EMAS) (Goldberg, Brintnell, & Goldberg, 2002) demonstrated sufficient psychometric properties in a sample of 122 adults. The EMAS was found to have adequate test—retest (r = .71) and internal consistency (α = .88) reliability; significant positive correlations between the EMAS and the subscales of the Basic Psychological Needs Scale and the Sources of Meaning Profile and negative zero-order correlations were found with short form versions of the Boredom Proneness Scale and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales. Step-wise multiple regression analysis results showed the Sources of Meaning Profile, Boredom Proneness Scale, and Competence subscale of the Basic Psychological Needs scale best predicted the EMAS. These results lend additional construct validity evidence in support of the EMAS as a brief measure of meaningful activity participation.

Relationships between Meaningful Activity, Basic Psychological Needs, and Meaning in Life: Test of the Meaningful Activity and Life Meaning Model:

The author of this study proposed and examined a theoretical model in which meaningful activity fulfills basic psychological needs and contributes to meaning in life. Hypotheses derived from the Meaningful Activity and Life Meaning model and tested within this study included: (1) meaningful activity will be associated with meaning in life, (2) meaningful activity will be associated with basic psychological needs, and (3) basic psychological needs will partially mediate the relationship between meaningful activity and meaning in life. Structural equation modeling with latent variables was used to test the study hypotheses. A total of 591 undergraduate and graduate students completed the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey, the Basic Psychological Needs Scales (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness), and the Presence subscale of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire. Results from the study were in full support of each hypothesis and indicate the important role meaningful activity may serve in fostering meaning in life.

Psychometric properties and factor structure of the 13-item satisfaction with daily occupations scale when used with people with mental health problems.

BackgroundIn mental health care practice and research it is increasingly recognized that clients’ subjective perceptions of everyday occupations, such as satisfaction, are important in recovery from mental illness. Instruments thus need to be developed to assess satisfaction with everyday occupations. The aim of the present study was to assess psychometric properties of the 13-item Satisfaction with Daily Occupation (SDO-13) when used with people with mental health problems, including its internal consistency, factor structure, construct validity and whether the scale produced ceiling or floor effects. An additional question concerned if the factor structure varied whether the participants were, or were not, presently engaged in the activity they rated.MethodsThe interview-based SDO-13 includes items pertaining to work/studies, leisure, home maintenance, and self-care occupations. Whether the person currently performs an occupation or not, he/she is asked to indicate his/her satisfaction with that occupation. The SDO-13 was completed with 184 persons with mental illness. Residual variables were created to remove the variation linked with currently performing the targeted occupation or not and to assess the factor structure of the SDO-13. The indicators of general satisfaction with daily occupations, self-esteem and global functioning were used to assess construct validity. The statistical methods included tests of homogeneity, confirmatory factor analysis and Pearson correlations.ResultsThe internal consistency was satisfactory at 0.79. A three-factor solution indicated that the construct behind the SDO-13 was composed of three facets; Taking care of oneself and the home, Work and studies, and Leisure and relaxation. The same factor structure was valid for both original scores and the residuals. An expected pattern of correlations with the indicators was mainly found, suggesting basic construct validity. No ceiling or floor effects were found.ConclusionsTaken together, the findings suggest the SDO-13 is a reliable and robust instrument that may be used to get an overview of the satisfaction people living with mental illness derive from their daily occupations.

Occupation and Social Complexity

Abstract Applications of complexity science, including dynamic systems and chaos theories, have become ever‐present in the social sciences. Diverse academic fields have begun to explore their central constructs from a complexity perspective. Occupational science has also begun to discover complexity science as an explanatory framework to aid in the study of occupation. Theoretical models, principles and empirical findings from a number of scholars of occupation suggest that the tenets of complexity may serve an important role in explicating the nature of occupation. However, applications of complexity science in the field of occupational science have almost exclusively focused on the system level of the human as a dynamic or chaotic system. In this article, I propose that the study of occupation should also be informed by adopting a social complexity perspective. This shift in analytic levels, in part, situates the study of occupation at the nexus of human‐to‐human interaction. Though a social level of analysis may restrict the attention given to any one individual, the resultant understanding of the manner by which individuals mutually influence each other via occupation would likely extend our views of the form, function and meaning of human occupation.

A prospective longitudinal study testing relationships between meaningful activities, basic psychological needs fulfillment, and meaning in life.

The current study used a prospective longitudinal design to determine whether change in meaningful activity over an 11-month period could help explain change in meaning in life in a sample of 174 undergraduate and graduate students. The Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey, Basic Psychological Needs Scales (i.e., autonomy, competence, relatedness), and the Meaning in Life Questionnaire were used as indicators of the constructs of meaningful activity, basic psychological needs fulfillment, and meaning and purpose in life. The findings were in support of the study hypotheses and indicated that change in meaningful activity explained both change in basic psychological needs fulfillment (i.e., autonomy, competence, relatedness) and change in meaning in life. Further, this study reports findings consistent with results from cross-sectional studies in support of the hypothesis that change in meaningful activity may influence change in meaning in life through two pathways: a direct path of influence from meaningful activity to meaning in life and an indirect path through change in basic psychological needs fulfillment. The current study contributes to a growing literature implicating subjective evaluations of day-to-day action (or meaningful activity) as a fruitful means for exploring relationships between occupation and well-being.

The Meaningful Activity Wants and Needs Assessment: A Perspective on Life Balance

The concept of life balance has received growing attention as a way to understand human well-being. Within this paper a novel subjective definition of life balance is proposed, such that persons should evaluate their ongoing occupations as meaningful while concurrently not perceiving a substantive need for more meaning in their occupations. The Meaningful Activity Wants and Needs Assessment (MAWNA) taps a need for meaningful occupation. It was introduced and tested in a sample of 250 university graduate and undergraduate students as a requisite assessment tool aimed at operationalizing this conceptual approach. The MAWNA demonstrated an anticipated three-factor structure composed of competence and goal achievement, pleasure and enjoyment, and social connectedness meanings associated with occupation. Further psychometric evidence in support of the MAWNA included very good internal consistency and test-retest reliabilities, in addition to discriminant and convergent validity identified through its correlations with meaningful activity and indicators of well-being. In regression models, both the MAWNA and a measure of meaningful occupation added statistically significant contributions towards explaining indicators of well-being thereby offering initial support for the definition of life balance proposed in this paper.

Protective and Vulnerability Factors Contributing to Resilience in Post-9/11 Veterans With Service-Related Injuries in Postsecondary Education

OBJECTIVE To examine differences in psychosocial protective factors (social support, meaningful occupation, and academic self-efficacy) and health-related vulnerability factors (posttraumatic stress, depression, and somatic symptoms) contributing to resilience in post-9/11 veterans with service-related injuries and nonveterans in postsecondary education. METHOD A cross-sectional, matched-participants design using propensity score matching was used to test differences in mean levels of protective and vulnerability factors between injured veterans (n = 26) and nonveterans (n = 19); zero-order correlations explored relationships among study variables. RESULTS The veteran sample demonstrated lower levels of psychosocial protective factors and higher levels of health-related vulnerability factors compared with nonveterans (|0.49| to |1.56|). Psychosocial protective factors were consistently negatively associated with health-related vulnerability factors (-.27 to -.63). CONCLUSION Post-9/11 veterans with service-related injuries are at a substantial disadvantage in terms of resilience; lower protective factors and elevated vulnerability factors may increase their risk for poor campus integration and impede academic achievement.

A Subjectively-Based Definition of Life Balance using Personal Meaning in Occupation

As definitions of life balance continue to proliferate within occupational science, ongoing testing of underlying assessment approaches are needed to inform the life balance construct. Within the present study a subjective definition of life balance was proposed that included the assessment of both meaningful activity and needs for meaningful activity. Using indicators of meaningful activity (Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey) and needs for meaningful activity (Meaningful Activity Wants and Needs Assessment), life balance was defined as a person reporting high levels of meaningful activity concurrently with low needs for additional meaningful activity experiences (Balance). Alternatively, people were defined as experiencing Imbalance when they concurrently reported low levels of meaningful activity and high needs for meaningful activity. In a sample of 250 university undergraduate and graduate students the present definition of life balance demonstrated theoretically predicted relationships with measures of well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, presence of meaning in life, and basic psychological needs fulfillment) and ill-being (i.e., depression and search for meaning in life). In all instances, persons identified as experiencing Balance reported significantly greater levels of well-being and lower levels of ill-being than those experiencing Imbalance. The present study, therefore, offers evidence demonstrating that perceived meaning in day-to-day activities offers a conceptually sound basis for further exploring the construct of life balance.

Enhancing construct validity evidence of the Daily Experiences of Pleasure, Productivity and Restoration Profile

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to further assess the psychometric properties of the PPR Profile, a newly developed tool which assesses peoples experiences of pleasure, productivity, and restoration in the occupational context of their time use. The relationships between mean pleasure, productivity and restoration scores, a global indicator of occupational experience and measures of meaning in life, positive and negative affect, and life satisfaction were examined using data from students (n=266) from a western university in the United States. Relationships were examined using multiple regression models. Validity evidence of the PPR Profile based on relationship to other variables was found. Daily mean pleasure and daily mean productivity were statistically significant predictors of a global assessment of occupational experience, meaning in life, positive affect, and life satisfaction. When controlling for global occupational experience, pleasure helped explain positive and negative affect and satisfaction with life, whereas productivity contributed to explaining meaning in life and positive affect. Daily mean restoration was not a significant predictor of global occupational experience or any of the well-being variables. The findings support the validity of the PPR Profile and the importance of examining various ways of assessing occupational experience. Implications for future research are presented.