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The use of Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) in the rehabilitation of ataxic patients

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to formulate an exercise program according to GAS, an approach that reflects the patients’ point of view and expectations and investigate the effects of this program in ataxia rehabilitation. This study was designed as an assessor-blinded, single-group trial, and 24 patients with cerebellar ataxia were included. Treatment goals, postural control, disease severity, and daily living activities were assessed pre- and post-treatment using the Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS), the Sensory Organization Test (SOT), the International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS), and the Barthel Index (BI), respectively. An exercise program was applied by taking patients’ individual expectations and treatment goals into account. The participants enrolled in the physiotherapy program for 8 weeks, 3 days a week for 1 hour per day. The mean age of the patients was 34.00 ± 9.15 years. While the GAS, kinetic functions ICARS subscores, ICARS total scores, SOT-composite, and BI scores improved significantly after treatment (p < 0.05), other ICARS subscores did not change after treatment (p > 0.05). The results showed that putting the patient at the center of the evaluation and treatment process while formulating a treatment plan had a positive effect on treatment outcome. If the functions that patients consider important are known and the treatment process concentrates on these functions, a patient’s participation in his/her individual treatment is supported by increasing his/her motivation and contribution to more successful rehabilitation practices.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge all the cerebellar ataxic participants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

    Ender Ayvat, Özge Onursal Kılınç, Fatma Ayvat, Gülşah Sütçü, Muhammed Kılınç & Sibel Aksu Yıldırım

  2. Department of Audiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

    Songül Aksoy

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  1. Ender Ayvat
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  2. Özge Onursal Kılınç
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  3. Fatma Ayvat
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  4. Gülşah Sütçü
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  5. Muhammed Kılınç
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  6. Songül Aksoy
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  7. Sibel Aksu Yıldırım
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Correspondence to Ender Ayvat.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Ayvat, E., Kılınç, Ö.O., Ayvat, F. et al. The use of Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) in the rehabilitation of ataxic patients. Neurol Sci 39, 893–901 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-018-3304-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-018-3304-7

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