The effect of physical therapy with goal attainment scaling on gait function in patients with subacute stroke.

The study was retrospective and used records from a single hospital, so it cannot show that goal attainment scaling caused improvement. All patients received physical therapy plus functional electrical stimulation, bicycle training, incline bed training, occupational therapy, speech therapy and psychotherapy, so the effect of goal attainment scaling alone cannot be separated. There was no randomised comparison group, and the supplied text does not describe patients who did not receive goal attainment scaling. Group sizes were uneven and small in the extreme groups: 12 patients in −1 and 13 in 2. The authors reported lacking adequate information on number of treatments and confounding variables. No patient had a −2 score, so the goal attainment scale range was truncated. General characteristics did not differ significantly, but the −1 group tended to have lower initial cognitive and functional levels. The study used raw goal attainment scores rather than standardised scores, limiting comparison with other goal attainment scaling studies.

Do not conclude that physical therapy with goal attainment scaling improved gait. The study grouped patients by goal attainment score after they had already received physical therapy, functional electrical stimulation, bicycle training, incline bed training, occupational therapy, speech therapy and psychotherapy. It did not compare these patients with a group that did not receive goal attainment scaling.