Evaluation of a Goal Attainment Program using the Goal Attainment Scale for Psychiatric In-patients in vocational rehabilitation

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the newly developed clinical protocol 'Goal Attainment Program' to assist psychiatric in-patients in Hong Kong to formulate realistic life goals, with a view to shortening their length of stay and motivating them to join in work rehabilitation. The Goal Attainment Scale for Psychiatric In-patients was validated and used to evaluate the change in life goals after attending the four-session Goal Attainment Program. The validated 10-item version of the Goal Attainment Scale for Psychiatric In-patients (GASPI-10) was found to have good inter-rater reliability (ρ(I) ranged from 0.64 to 0.88, p < 0.01; N = 26) and internal consistency (α of rater 1 = 0.92, rater 2 = 0.87, N = 26). Twenty-five chronic psychiatric in-patients of Castle Peak Hospital in Hong Kong completed the Goal Attainment Program and were assessed using a pre and post-test quasi-experimental design. The T-score computation of GASPI-10 indicated that 92% of patients showed improvement in goal attainment. Some 92% of patients stated that they were willing to leave the hospital, and 72% of participants planned to seek paid employment upon discharge after completion of the program. The overall results of this study verified the effectiveness of the Goal Attainment Program in instilling hope in chronic patients with schizophrenia and the use of the Goal Attainment Scale in documenting patients' progress.