Developing Clear and Useful Scoring Procedures for Goal Attainment Scaling in Longitudinal Case Studies

Abstract

This article examines scoring procedures for Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) and suggests a new scoring procedure to communicate GAS outcomes in longitudinal studies. Analysis is based on longitudinal case studies that evaluate transitioning from psychiatric institutions to independent living. Five scoring methods are identified: raw scores; sum of score differences; mean scores; T-scores; and graphing raw scores. Graphing raw scores is presented as an alternative method of expressing GAS scores for studies with few participants and multiple time points. This enables easy interpretation of goal attainment, and allows for fluctuation in performance as is typical in clinical practice.

Keywords:

• Longitudinal case studies
• goal setting
• outcome measurement
• graphing
• fluctuating performance