The Getting-Out-of-Bed (GoB) scale: a measure of motivation and life outlook in older adults with cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a measure of motivation and life outlook (Getting-Out-of-Bed [GoB]).


METHODS
Secondary analysis of baseline and 6-month data from a longitudinal follow-up study of older breast cancer survivors.


METHODS
Women (N = 660) diagnosed with primary breast cancer stage I-IIIA disease, age >or=65 years, and permission to contact from an attending physician in four geographic regions in the United States (city-based Los Angeles, California; statewide in Minnesota, North Carolina, and Rhode Island).


METHODS
Data were collected over 6-months of follow-up from consenting patients' medical records and telephone interviews with patients. Data collected included the 4-item GoB, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), breast cancer, sociodemographic, and health-related characteristics.


RESULTS
Factor analysis produced, as hypothesized, one principal component with eigen values of 2.74(baseline) and 2.91(6-months) which explained 68.6%(baseline) and 72.7%(6-months) of total variance. In further psychometric analyses, GoB exhibited good construct validity (divergent: low nonstatistically significant correlations with unrelated constructs; convergent: moderate statistically significant correlations with related constructs; discriminant: distinguished high HRQoL groups with a high level of significance), excellent internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha 0.84(baseline), 0.87(6-months)), and produced stable measurements over 6-months. Women with GoB scores >or=50 at baseline were more likely at 6-months to have good HRQoL, good self-perceived health, and report regular exercise, indicating good predictive ability.


CONCLUSIONS
GoB demonstrated overall good psychometric properties in this sample of older breast cancer survivors, suggestive of a promising tool for assessing motivation and life outlook in older adults. Nevertheless, because it was developed and initially evaluated in a select sample, using measures with similar but not exact content overlap further evaluation is needed before it can be recommended for widespread use.
Clough-Gorr
Kerri M
KM
Section of Geriatrics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA. kmclough@bu.edu
Rakowski
William
W
Clark
Melissa
M
Silliman
Rebecca A
RA
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001290:Attitude; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009042:Motivation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results