13.C1 SMARTAAR Goals Worksheets

Introduction

The SMARTAAR Goal Worksheet was designed as a quick approach to writing and reviewing high quality, client centred SMART goals.

It was developed by Helen Badge, Outcomes Manager with the ACI Brain Injury Rehabilitation Directorate (2012).

The worksheet provides a practical approach to consider the elements in a goal statement that reflect criteria for high quality goals identified in the SMARTAAR Goal Process.

The SMARTAAR Goal Worksheet can be used to develop, review and refine SMART goals that are focused on client participation and support clinical reasoning in rehabilitation.

It evaluates the separate elements and overall meaning of a single goal statement and highlights areas for improvement. It has two main applications:

  • Clinicians can use the Worksheet to improve the quality of the goals they formulate with clients and to guide them when documenting these goals
  • Funders can use the Worksheet to review goals and provide specific feedback to clinicians. This feedback could include what further information is required to understand what the client wants to achieve and will be able to achieve from the requested intervention.
  • Review and rewrite the following goal into a client focussed SMART Goal
    Increase client motivation to participate in physiotherapy by incorporating some of his therapy into his program at school and after school care centre.
    Check your answers here

     

    The SMARTAAR Goal Worksheet was developed to address a learning need identified in the NSW Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program (BIRP). Although the concept of SMART goals is not new, clinicians have struggled with writing high quality, SMART goals in clinical practice. The goal setting process is complex and we have already identified a number of factors that influence the goal setting process. The Worksheet was informed by a review of a range of goals in BIRP services. This review indicated a number of inconsistencies in goal writing practice as well as variation in the use of goals in clinical practice. In addition to client factors, variations in service structure and practice, including how goals were developed and whether they were used in practice, existed.

    The SMARTAAR Goal Worksheet has not been formally validated but clinicians and funders have reported it is a useful tool and fit for purpose. It draws on existing approaches to writing goals but has tailored them to suit clinical and rehabilitation service needs identified by clinicians and the literature. It has been found to be flexible enough to be used by clinicians and those approving funding for rehabilitation and related services, including relevant government entities and insurance based roles.