Sense of personal control: Can it be assessed culturally unbiased across Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians?

Abstract

In recent decades, several studies have emphasized sense of personal control as a prominent aspect of Aboriginal health. However, one limitation is that instruments available to measure personal control were originally developed in western countries and validation for Aboriginal Australians has not been conducted. The aims of the current study were to evaluate whether the Sense of Personal Control Scale (SPCS) can be used to obtain culturally unbiased measurement of personal control across Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians and to assess the psychometric properties of the SPCS for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australian. Methods: The current study utilized two Australian subsamples retrieved from the Teeth Talk Study (n = 317) and the National Survey of Adult Oral Health 2004-2006 (n = 3,857) in which the SPCS was included. Graphical Loglinear Rasch Models (GLLRM) were used to fulfill the aims of the study. Results: The Perceived Constraints subscale fitted a GLLRM for Aboriginal Australians after the exclusion of three items, while fit to any Rasch model (RM) or GLLRM model could not be found in the non-Aboriginal sample. The Mastery subscale fitted a GLLRM in the non-Aboriginal sample after the exclusion of one item. In the Aboriginal sample, two items of the Mastery subscale fitted the RM, however, two items cannot be considered as a scale. Conclusion: In the present study, we showed that the development of new items is crucial before the revised SPCS might constitute a valid and reliable measure of sense of personal control in both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australian populations, and it is possible to assess whether the SPCS can be measured without bias across these two populations.

Exploratory Graph Analysis of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Children

“…These findings are consistent with a previous study by Williamson et al (2014) that also raised concerns regarding the use of SDQ among Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children. Moreover, the inadequacy of Western-developed psychological instruments for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander populations and the need for culturally specific versions have been documented in instruments to measure personal control (Santiago et al, 2020a), stress (Santiago et al, 2019), among many others (Kowal et al, 2007). Among our study samples, the most frequent structures were three-and four-dimensional.…”

“…Another important consideration is the development of culturally specific psychological instruments to measure SEWB among Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children. The need for culturally specific instruments has been recommended by many leading researchers in the field including Westerman (2002Westerman ( , 2004, Kowal et al (2007), Brown et al (2016), andSantiago et al (2020a). One culturally appropriate instrument that has been recently proposed for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders is the Strong Souls index (Thomas et al, 2010).…”

“…Cross-cultural validation would be required for the comparison of scores between Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children. Previous studies have demonstrated that cross-cultural validity between Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children was not achieved for certain instruments, such as the sense of personal control scale, posing challenges to a direct comparison of the test score between these groups (Santiago et al, 2020a). While conducting a cross-cultural validation of the caregiver-informed SDQ version 4-10 years between Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australian children was beyond the scope of this study, this is another agenda for future research.…”

Prevalence of Everyday Discrimination and Relation with Wellbeing among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Adults in Australia

“…The association was particularly strong for the outcome of low personal control (PR = 3.77; 3.27, 4.34). This outcome is intended to serve as an indicator of self-determination, a key cultural domain [ 23 ], noting the absence of a validated measure of personal control for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples [ 42 ]. Feelings of lack of control over one’s life may be reflective of the historic and ongoing colonial processes that were designed to control Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lives [ 43 , 44 ].…”

Cohort profile: South Australian Aboriginal Birth Cohort (SAABC)—a prospective longitudinal birth cohort

“…Santiago and colleagues demonstrated how social support was characterised among study participants, 34 and the impact of personal control on self-reported health outcomes. 35 The effectiveness of implementing a MI approach to preventing poor oral health among Indigenous children and their families was discussed, 22 with comparisons made with other studies involving MI and the oral health of vulnerable children. 36 …”