Self-reported social and motivational factors in health-related future intentions amongst older adults

Abstract

Prospective memory (PM), the ability to form a specific intention and remember to carry it out at an appropriate future time, is critical in health-related contexts and has been found to decline significantly with age. Further, motivation plays a vital role in PM and previous research indicated that older adults are particularly motivated by the social relevance of PM tasks. However, little is known about the role of perceived social impact in older adults’ health intentions. The current study aimed to explore the motivation behind carrying out future intentions. Participants (n=116, Mage= 70.78) self-rated their motivation for health-related tasks with either a social (remind your partner to take medications) or non-social (remember to take your own medications) aspect. Quantitative results indicated that some aspects of motivation (impact on others, effort & enjoyment) were enhanced by social context, while others (personal reward & relatedness) were not. We also gathered qualitative information on health-related PM tasks in their daily lives and links to social motivation. Most participants reported helping someone else to remember their health-related PM tasks and experiencing positive emotions as a result of helping others. The findings may have implications for motivating people to remember health tasks, which could aid independent living and quality of life for older adults.