OBJECTIVES: Goal attainment scaling (GAS) quantifies the impact of an intervention on personal goals. GAS interviewers work with patients/caregivers to set goals that are meaningful, specific, attainable, and relevant. Although interviewer expertise in the condition and use of a goal inventory are thought to improve goal setting, their impact has not been systematically investigated. Here we assessed the impacts of interviewer expertise and the use of a goal inventory on the number of goals, goal type, time to set goals, and goal quality in individuals with dyslexia.

METHODS: Seventeen individuals were interviewed by two interviewers; one with expertise in dyslexia (n=9) and one without (n=8) to set 3 to 5 goals. Nine participants were provided with an inventory of 30 goal areas mapped to reading, writing, emotions and “self-advocacy and social” domains and had the option to add goals de novo. The remaining participants were not provided with an inventory. Goal quality was assessed by an independent assessor.

RESULTS: While all participants set between 3 and 5 goals, the expert interviewer set more goals than the non-expert (36 vs. 27 goals). In addition, those provided with a goal inventory set more goals than those without (35 vs. 28 goals). They also set more diverse goals with 9 (25.7%) from self-advocacy and social domains compared to 2 (7.1%) without the inventory. Mean time to complete goal setting was similar for expert and non-experts (35±13.2 vs. 33±6.6 minutes). The time to complete was also similar with and without a goal inventory (36±12.2 vs. 32±8.3 minutes). Most goals (62/63) were rated as acceptable or excellent, but the expert set more goals rated as excellent (29/36) than the non-expert (6/27).

CONCLUSIONS: The use of expert interviewers and a goal inventory to facilitate the goal-setting process can help clinicians and individuals identify a broader range of goal areas.