Goal attainment scaling (GAS) is an individualised health outcome measure that was first introduced by Kirusek and Sherman (1968) for assessing outcomes in mental health settings. This technique is found to be suitable for health problems which warrant a multidimensional and individualised approach to treatment planning and outcome measurement and has been used to demonstrate clinically important change in a variety of settings including elderly care (Stolee, Stadnyk, et al 1999; Stolee, Zaza, et al 1999), chronic pain (Zaza, et al 1999) and cognitive rehabilitation (Rockwood, et al 1997).
 
Formal assessment of goal attainment at the point of outcome assessment could provide an accurate indication of success in relation to the intended goals of treatment, both on the part of the patient and the clinician. The application of Goal Attainment Scaling also offers the opportunity of a single interval measure with which to assess response to intervention. This work began with the assessment of botulinum toxin intervention outcomes and has then developed for use in the wider inpatient rehabilitation environment.

Main projects

Work is ongoing on using GAS to assess functional outcomes from botulinum toxin intervention (BTX). In particular this work involves using GAS to measure the outcome of intervention related to upper limb spasticity and relate GAS outcome scores to the scores of other objective measures appropriate to this type of focal intervention.
 
BTX intervention does not stand alone and is used in conjunction with other therapy interventions. Therefore our projects in this area also aim to explore this complex intervention in more detail.

Download a free copy

You can download a copy of GAS via the Questionnaires and Tools section