Deans' stroke musings: Short-term effects of goal setting by rehabilitation professionals on aspects of psychology: a non-randomized controlled trial involving recovering stroke survivors

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Short-term effects of goal setting by rehabilitation professionals on aspects of psychology: a non-randomized controlled trial involving recovering stroke survivors

Survivors set goals you blithering idiots! And the only goal in stroke is 100% recovery. Don't try to lower that goal. Which means YOUR RESPONSIBILITY IS TO HAVE EXACT 100% RECOVERY PROTOCOLS! How's that coming?
Short-term effects of goal setting by rehabilitation professionals on aspects of psychology: a non-randomized controlled trial involving recovering stroke survivors

. 2025 Feb 27;16:1–8. doi: 10.11336/jjcrs.16.1

Hikaru Takarada ¹, Toshihiro Honke ²

PMCID: PMC11904086 PMID: 40093402

Abstract

Takarada H, Honke T. Short-term effects of goal setting by rehabilitation professionals on aspects of psychology: a non-randomized controlled trial involving recovering stroke survivors. Jpn J Compr Rehabil Sci 2025; 16: 1-8.

Objective

In rehabilitation, goals expected to have an effect on aspects of psychology, such as promoting participation in the program and reducing anxiety, are set between the patient and the therapist. This study aimed to compare and test the short-term effects of goal setting on such psychological aspects in an experimental group, in which the therapist selected the highest priority goals proposed by the patient, and a control group, in which the goals were proposed by the therapist.

Methods

Between October 2023 and March 2024, 88 stroke survivors were admitted to the Kaifukuki Rehabilitation Ward, of whom 32 met the inclusion criteria. The patients were divided into two groups: a goal-setting group in which the patient chose the highest priority goal (experimental group: n = 17) and a goal-setting group in which the patient agreed with the goal proposed by the therapist (control group: n = 15). The primary outcome was treatment engagement in rehabilitation, and the secondary outcomes were anxiety/depression and mental health scores.

Results

Outcomes improved in both groups after goal setting. Between-group comparisons showed a significant improvement in treatment engagement in the experimental group (p < 0.001). The sample size required for the randomized controlled trial was 46 participants in each group.

Conclusion

In the short term, treatment engagement was influenced by the patient's consideration and choice of priority goals.

Keywords: goal setting, physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech and language therapists, psychological effects

Introduction

To set goals and explain strategies for stroke survivors in Japan, rehabilitation is accompanied by comprehensive plan evaluation and goal-setting support and management fees. Here, goal setting is defined as the process of informed discussion between the patient and health-care provider to determine when and how rehabilitation should take place [1]. It has been reported that when goal setting is implemented in rehabilitation, both the patient's satisfaction and motivation improve [2, 3]. In addition, focusing on goals that are a high priority for the patient has been shown to be effective in improving motivation and reducing anxiety, which can have a positive psychological impact [4].

In a non-randomized controlled trial of goal setting in convalescent patients in Japan, goal setting using the life goal concept was shown to improve treatment engagement [5]. However, only physical therapists (PTs) and patients with cerebrovascular or orthopedic conditions were included in that study. Similarly, there have been few reports on goal setting conducted outside Japan, with studies of goal setting conducted only for PTs or occupational therapists (OTs) [6, 7].

Therefore, the effects of priority goals on aspects of psychology among stroke survivors undergoing rehabilitation in the recovery phase remain unclear. In the present study, we hypothesized that sharing priority goals with patients might have more beneficial effects on aspects of psychology compared with PTs, OTs, and speech and language therapists (STs) sharing their own goals with patients.

In addition, reports examining the effects of goal setting on aspects of psychology have been conducted over study periods ranging from 3 weeks to several months; to our knowledge, no studies examining short-term effects (e.g., about 1 week) have been reported [8]. If short-term effects can be demonstrated through goal setting for stroke survivors, this could facilitate improvements in outcomes related to psychological aspects such as anxiety and increased motivation to participate from the start of rehabilitation. Given this background, the present study aimed to compare and verify the short-term effects of goal setting on aspects of psychology in an experimental group, in which the PT, ST, and OT selected the highest priority goals proposed by the patient, and in a control group, in which the goals were proposed by the PT, ST, and OT.