A prospective interrupted time series study of interventions to improve the quality,rating,framing and structure of goal-setting in community-based brain injury rehabilitation

Abstract

Objective:

To investigate whether the introduction of an electronic goals system followed by staff training improved the quality, rating, framing and structure of goals written by a community-based brain injury rehabilitation team.

Design:

Interrupted time series design.

Intervention:

Two interventions were introduced six months apart. The first intervention comprised the introduction of an electronic goals system. The second intervention comprised a staff goal training workshop.

Methods:

An audit protocol was devised to evaluate the goals. A random selection of goal statements from the 12 months prior to the interventions (Time 1 baseline) were compared with all goal statements written after the introduction of the electronic goals system (Time 2) and staff training (Time 3). All goals were de-identified for client and time-period, and randomly ordered.

Results:

A total of 745 goals (Time 1 n = 242; Time 2 n = 283; Time 3 n = 220) were evaluated. Compared with baseline, the introduction of the electronic goals system alone significantly increased goal rating, framing and structure (χ² tests 144.7, 18.9, 48.1, respectively, p < 0.001). The addition of staff training meant that the improvement in goal quality, which was only a trend at Time 2, was statistically significant at Time 3 (χ² 15.0, p ≤ 001). The training also led to a further significant increase in the framing and structuring of goals over the electronic goals system (χ² 11.5, 12.5, respectively, p ≤ 0.001).

Conclusion:

An electronic goals system combined with staff training improved the quality, rating, framing and structure of goal statements.