IMPLEMENTATION OF BEST PRACTICE GOAL-SETTING IN FIVE REHABILITATION SERVICES: A MIXED-METHODS EVALUATION STUDY

Objective: This implementation study aimed to enhance the key elements of clinical practice goal -setting across 5 rehabilitation services.Design: This study followed a participatory action research approach guided by the Knowledge to Action framework.Methods: Medical record audits and structured client interviews were conducted prior to and fol-lowing 12 weeks of implementation, in order to evaluate the success of the goal-setting implemen-tation package.Results: Medical record audits and interviews conducted pre-implementation (audits n =132, interviews n = 64), post-implementation (audits n =130, interviews n = 56) and at 3-month fol-low-up (audits n = 30) demonstrated varied suc-cess across sites. Following implementation 2 sites significantly improved their common goal focus (site 1 p 5 0.001, site 2 p = 0.005), these sites also demonstrated a significant increase in clients reporting that they received copies of their rehabilitation goals (site 1 p 5 0.001, site 2 p 5 0.001). Four sites improved client action plan-ning, feedback and review, and 3 sites enhanced their specificity of goal-setting. At 3-month follow-up 4 sites had continued to improve their common goal focus; however, all sites decreased the speci-ficity of their goal-setting.Conclusion: Elements of the implementation pack-age were successful at enhancing the goal-setting process; however, how the package is implemented within the team may impact outcomes.

Automated summary

This implementation study aimed to enhance the key elements of clinical practice goal-setting across 5 rehabilitation services, and the results showed that the implementation package was successful at enhancing the goal-setting process. However, how the package is implemented within the team may impact outcomes.