A multinational online survey of the goal setting practice of rehabilitation staff with stroke survivors with aphasia

ABSTRACT

Purpose

Goal setting is an essential rehabilitation activity. However, multidisciplinary rehabilitation staff goal-setting practice with stroke survivors with aphasia and associated training needs are not well understood.

Methods

We designed, piloted, and conducted a survey of stroke rehabilitation staff in the UK, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Canada, Ireland. Analysis included descriptive statistics, chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests, and qualitative content analysis.

Results

We received 251 responses from 118 SLTs and 133 non-SLTs. Most reported setting goals with most or all people with aphasia (78%, 197/251); 57% (138/244) rarely or never provided an accessible copy of goals. All disciplines reported significantly less confidence setting goals with people with aphasia than without aphasia (p = 0.012, n = 119). Barriers to goal setting included the communication impairment (especially severe aphasia) and poor insight. Staff described feeling ill-equipped to support people with aphasia in goal setting; only 27% (67/251) had accessed training to do so.

Conclusions

Rehabilitation staff described involving stroke survivors with aphasia in goal setting but lacked confidence doing so and receive inadequate training and support. Training should target multidisciplinary staff confidence and communication support strategies and resources so that people with aphasia and families are supported as goal-setting partners.

KEYWORDS:

• Aphasia
• stroke
• rehabilitation
• goal setting
• accessibility

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the people with aphasia and rehabilitation staff who gave their time to take part in this study.

Disclosure statement

EB was supported by a Glasgow Caledonian University PhD studentship and Foundation for Women Graduates Foundation grants. LS is supported by a Stroke Association Clinical Lectureship award (TSA LECT 2016/02). The Nursing, Midwifery, and Allied Health Professions Research Unit and MCB are supported by the Chief Scientist Office, Scottish Government Health, and Social Care Directorate, UK. The views expressed here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the funders.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.