How Do We Measure Motivation and Barriers in Malta?
- Darren Bezzina
- 6 days ago
- 1 min read
Ever wonder why people don’t exercise — or what motivates them to stay consistent?
In Malta, we’ve had limited access to validated tools in our own language… until now.
This 2022 study by Karl Spiteri, John Xerri de Caro, and colleagues tackled that gap by translating and validating two major psychological tools:
Exercise Benefits/Barriers Scale (EBBS)
Exercise Motivation Inventory-2 (EMI-2)
These tools help us measure:
What stops people from exercising
What motivates them to keep going
How age, sitting time, and leisure habits influence behaviour
The study tested these tools in Maltese-speaking adults aged 18–69 and found excellent reliability — meaning they’re scientifically sound and culturally relevant for use in Malta.
This means coaches, health professionals, and policymakers in Malta now have powerful tools to assess physical activity behaviour, tailor interventions, and make data-driven decisions in Maltese.
Full study:Spiteri K, Xerri de Caro J, Grafton K, Broom D. (2022). Psychometric testing of the Maltese versions of the Exercise Benefits/Barriers Scale and Exercise Motivation Inventory – 2. Health Psychology Research, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.52965/001c.37515
Let’s celebrate more local science. Know someone researching sport or physical activity in Malta? Tag them. Let’s give their work the platform it deserves. 🇲🇹
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