Getting out of bed measures motivation
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have identified a tool, the “Getting-Out-of-Bed (GoB) measure” to assess motivation and life outlook in older adults.
The study, which appears in the October issue of the Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, shows that the tool has the potential to be an easy-to-use measure to bolster motivation and thus, improve health behaviours and outcomes in the growing population of older adults.
“Motivation and life outlook play an important part in an older adult’s ability to recover from illness or disabling events and to maintain and/or adopt health-promoting behaviours,” said lead author, Dr Kerri Clough-Gorr, from the Section of Geriatrics at BUSM.
The researchers conducted telephone interviews on a sample of 660 women with breast cancer in America at three and six months intervals. Motivation and life outlook was assessed using GoB questions.
Women with GoB scores of more than 50 (representing higher motivation) at baseline were statistically significantly more likely at 6 months to have good health-related quality of life, good self-perceived health and report regular exercise than those with scores of less than 50, indicating good predictive ability.
“The ability to identify patients with low motivation establishes an opportunity for health care providers to develop and implement interventions to improve older adults’ motivation and to help them attain and maintain a higher quality of health and life.
“The GoB may help target adequate interventions to bolster motivation and thus improve health behaviours and outcomes in older adults,” added Dr Clough-Gorr.
