Psychometric properties of the Assessment of Positive Occupations (APO-11) in Spanish undergraduates: measuring engagement in fulfilling and meaningful occupations

Mayordomo-Rodríguez, Teresa; Marco-Ahulló, Adrià; Aragonés-Barberá, Inmaculada; Rubio-Belmonte, César

doi:10.1590/2526-8910.cto411940442

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Original Article • Cad. Bras. Ter. Ocup. 33 • 2025 • https://doi.org/10.1590/2526-8910.cto411940442 linkcopy

Psychometric properties of the Assessment of Positive Occupations (APO-11) in Spanish undergraduates: measuring engagement in fulfilling and meaningful occupations

Propriedades psicométricas da Avaliação de Ocupações Positivas (APO-11) em estudantes de graduação espanhóis: medindo o envolvimento em ocupações gratificantes e significativas

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Introduction The Assessment of Positive Occupations (APO) is a self-report scale developed to measure engagement in fulfilling and meaningful occupations based on the PERMA model of psychological well-being. Although engagement in such activities relates to well-being in undergraduates, few validated instruments exist for Spanish-speaking, non-clinical populations.

Objective This study examined the factor structure and psychometric properties of the 11-item Assessment of Positive Occupations (APO-11) using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in a Spanish undergraduate sample.

Method Participants were 363 undergraduates (84.8% women; M = 20.32, SD = 2.21). They completed the APO-11, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, Purpose in Life-Short Form, Seeking of Noetic Goals-8, and the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey. CFA was performed using Diagonally Weighted Least Squares. Convergent, discriminant, and construct validity, as well as reliability (McDonald’s omega), were assessed.

Results The four-factor model showed good fit (CFI = .939, TLI = .911, RMSEA = 0.067, SRMR = 0.047). Convergent validity was supported by positive correlations with life satisfaction, purpose in life, engagement in meaningful activities and expectations (r = .18–.62, p < .05); discriminant validity by negative correlations with existential vacuum (r = –.06 to –.36, p < .05). However, the Meaning dimension showed weaker discriminant validity (AVE = .44). Internal consistency was acceptable for the total scale (ω = .84) and subscales (ω = .69–.83).

Conclusion The APO-11 is a valid and reliable tool for assessing engagement in fulfilling and meaningful occupations in Spanish undergraduates, contributing to well-being evaluation in this population.

Keywords:
Life Satisfaction; Human Activities; Validation Study

Model	Mardia´s Coefficienta	SBχ2 (df)	p	CFI	TLI	RMSEA [90% CI]	SRMR
1	43.52	117.69 (38)	0.001	0.939	0.911	0.067 [0.054, 0.084]	0.047
2	43.52	113.18 (40)	0.001	0.928	0.901	0.089 [0.072, 0.105]	0.055

	Achievement	Meaning	Engagement
	Achievement	Meaning	Square root (AVE) = 0.560
Positive relationship	0.400	0.373	0.254
Square root (AVE) = 0.638	0.400	0.373	0.254
Achievement	-	0.487	0.520
Square root (AVE) = 0.619	-	0.487	0.520
Meaning	-	-	0.532
Square root (AVE) = 0.438	-	-	0.532

	APO-11PR	APO-11A	APO-11M	APO-11E	SONG-8NfM	SONG-8EX	SWLS	PIL-SF
APO-11A	0.400^*
APO-11M	0.373*	0.487*
APO-11E	0.254*	0.520*	0.532*
SONG-8NfM	-0.056^***	-0.222*	-0.117^**	-0.355*
SONG-8EX	0.146**	0.318*	0.188**	0.109***	0.294*
SWLS	0.183**	0.442*	0.408*	0.548*	-0.281*	0.162**
PILSF	0.249*	0.620*	0.448*	0.452*	-0.198*	0.345*	0.456*
EMAS	0.167**	0.432*	0.434*	0.487*	-0.226*	0.181*	0.420*	0.507*

Items of the APO-11 and scales	M	SD	Sk (SE)	Ku (SE)	r Item-test	ϖ if item dropped
ACHIEVEMENT (ϖ = .826)
APO 1	3.41	0.77	-1.26 (0.14)	1.14 (0.28)	0.69	0.767
APO 2	3.62	0.59	-1.52 (0.14)	2.25 (0.28)	0.71	0.743
APO 3	3.56	0.64	-1.29 (0.14)	0.82 (0.28)	0.68	0.759
POSITIVE RELATIONS (ϖ = 0.763)
APO 10	3.62	0.60	-1.5 (0.14)	2.18 (0.28)	0.52	-
APO 11	3.73	0.53	-2.0 (0.14)	4.08 (0.28)	0.58	-
MEANING (ϖ = 0.691)
APO 9	3.26	0.75	-.68 (0.14)	-0.32 (0.28)	0.48	0.352
APO 12	3.27	0.83	-.89 (0.14)	-0.03 (0.28)	0.42	0.391
APO 15	3.17	0.80	-.61 (0.14)	-0.40 (0.28)	0.58	0.463
ENGAGEMENT (ϖ = .793)
APO 7	3.05	0.86	-.62 (0.14)	-.30 (0.28)	0.71	0.706
APO 8	2.77	0.92	-.23 (0.14)	-.83 (0.28)	0.59	0.585
APO 13	2.95	0.89	-.45 (0.14)	-.62 (0.28)	0.61	0.608
APO TOTAL	35.99	6.46	-1.73 (0.14)	5.44 (0.28)
SWLS	25.03	5.46	-.74 (0.12)	0.42 (0.25)
PIL-SF	22.33	3.64	-1.28 (0.12)	2.41 (0.25)
EMAS	33.04	7.2	-.86 (0.12)	2.06 (0.25)
SONG-8NfM	19.89	6.35	-.10 (0.12)	-.49 (0.25)
SONG-8EX	16.25	3.24	-.62 (0.12)	0.04 (0.25)

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Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Departamento de Terapia Ocupacional Rodovia Washington Luis, Km 235, Caixa Postal 676, CEP: , 13565-905, São Carlos, SP - Brasil, Tel.: 55-16-3361-8749 - São Carlos - SP - Brazil
E-mail: cadto@ufscar.br

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[1] APO-11 = Assessment of Positive Occupation-11 Item; SBχ2 = Satorra-Bentler chi square; CFI = Comparative Fit Index; TLI = Tucker-Lewis Index; RMSEA = Root Mean Square Error of Approximation; SRMR = Standardized Root Mean Square Residual; 1 = four latent variables correlated model; 2 = four latent variables of first-order and second-order latent variable model.a Normalized estimation.