How do we capture child and family goals? Examining the goal setting practices used by community-based allied health professionals

This study aimed to i) identify child and family goals reported in a community allied health service, ii) map goals to ICF domains, and iii) evaluate goal characteristics against child-centred and family-centred practice principles. A retrospective study design was used to extract and analyse raw goal data documented for children and families accessing a community-based allied health service. ICF linking rules were used to map goals to the ICF domains. A study-specific goal rating criterion was used to examine the extent to which child-centred and family-centred practice principles were evident in documented goals. 355 goals were documented for 181 children (aged 0 < 12 years). The most common goal domain was ‘Body Functions’ (57%), following by Activity and Participation (33%), then Environment (9%). Few participation-focused goals were reported (4%). Documentation showed consistent collaboration with caregivers, however, minimal information for children. Goals were often phrased in therapist-specific language without reference to the child or family’s functional context. As a result, many goal records did not meet the child-centred and family-centred criteria. Results highlight the critical need for tools and training which can support professionals to collaboratively construct goals, to ensure that documented goals reflect meaningful child and family priorities. Goal setting procedures can support consistency in collaborative goal setting practices for allied health professionals in community settings.Allied health professionals should construct goals to reflect children’s and families’ meaningful goals at all relevant levels of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF).Knowledge translation activities could support the integration of child-centred and family-centred principles into goal setting practices. Goal setting procedures can support consistency in collaborative goal setting practices for allied health professionals in community settings. Allied health professionals should construct goals to reflect children’s and families’ meaningful goals at all relevant levels of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Knowledge translation activities could support the integration of child-centred and family-centred principles into goal setting practices.