Exploring Goal Attainment Scaling Among Occupational Therapy Students: A Retrospective Descriptive Analysis.
Wafaa Alduraidi, E Zhang, Lauren Foster and 1 others
PMID 39845290WHAT IT FOUND
Three of five OT students failed a 75% competency benchmark for writing Goal Attainment Scales after only 3 hours of training.
They often copied parent statements verbatim instead of creating measurable goals, showing that brief instruction does not produce competent GAS administration.
Key findings
01Only three of the five entry-level OT students met the 75% competency threshold for Goal Attainment Scale administration.
02Students frequently failed to write goals that reflected a single dimension of change, meeting this criterion in only 50% of administrations.
03Students who did not meet competency benchmarks often transcribed parents' statements verbatim rather than translating them into measurable goals.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The sample was very small (5 students, 14 interviews), limiting generalizability. All students were from the same university program, so educational variation was not captured. The analysis was retrospective, so researchers could not ask students about their reasoning or verify if goals truly reflected parent priorities. The study used a modified GAS scale where 0 represented baseline rather than expected outcome, which differs from traditional GAS scoring.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the overall 82.4% criteria met rate as evidence that students are competent. Individual performance varied significantly, and two of the five students failed the 75% threshold, meaning brief training did not reliably produce the skills needed for independent GAS administration.