Comparable achievement of client-identified, self-rated goals in intervention and no-intervention groups: reevaluating the use of Goal Attainment Scaling as an outcome measure

ABSTRACT

Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) is widely used as a measure of client-centered outcomes in clinical interventions. There are few well-controlled studies using GAS, however, and this limits the conclusions that can be drawn about the determinants of goal attainment post-intervention. In collaboration with researchers, 67- community-dwelling older adults used GAS to establish individualised goals for lifestyle change and memory strategy use in a randomised controlled trial of a multidimensional memory program (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02087137). Participants were allocated to an intervention or no-contact control group. Goal attainment was self-rated by participants at baseline, immediate post-intervention, and six-week follow-up. A mixed-model analysis of variance revealed a main effect of time, but no main effect of group and no interaction between time and group. In both the intervention and control groups, respectively, T-scores increased from baseline (Ms = 37 and 37) to post-intervention (Ms = 52 and 50) and were stable at follow-up (Ms = 52 and 51). Results were similar using ordinal data interpretation. Comparable goal attainment in participants receiving intervention versus no intervention underscores the importance of control groups in evaluation studies utilising GAS as an outcome measure, and supports a possible therapeutic contribution of setting and rating goals with GAS.

KEYWORDS:

• Goal Attainment Scaling
• Rehabilitation interventions
• Randomised controlled trial
• Measurement instrument
• Goal setting

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the research participants in the Memory and Aging Program randomised controlled trial; to Rosanne Aleong and Rosalind Sham who assisted with project management and data collection; and to Elsa Baena, Emilie Crevier-Quintin, Eliyas Jeffay, Ronak Patel, Sabrina Scarcello and Joanna Sue for assistance with piloting, test administration, and memory intervention. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their many insightful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure Statement

Drs. Vandermorris and Troyer have created leader’s materials and a train-the-trainer workshop related to the Memory and Aging Program, and are eligible to receive a percentage of royalties generated by Baycrest from these products. This work was performed in partial fulfilment of Katherine Herdman’s requirements for a Ph.D. degree in Clinical Psychology at York University.

ORCID

Katherine A. Herdman http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4657-0813

Susan Vandermorris http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6187-9077

Sylvia Davidson http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1630-2842

April Au http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9047-5904

Angela K. Troyer http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5660-4127

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by royalties generated from program materials (i.e., leader’s manual, participant workbook) and a train-the-trainer workshop related to the Memory and Aging Program and the Kunin-Lunenfeld Centre for Applied Research & Evaluation at Baycrest Health Sciences. KAH acknowledges support from a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Doctoral Award.