Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS)

Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) is a tool used in therapeutic settings to keep a patient on track with their progress and make sure they are reaching their mental health goals in a timely and efficient manner. It's a method of scoring how goals are reached by an individual receiving treatment. Scales are typically specific to an individual with particular goals and/or time frames to evaluate treatment effectiveness.

For the patient it can be a way of keeping track of their goals with definitions and clear descriptions of the expectations included to make things clear. Looking at the accomplished goals can make a patient feel good and be more likely to stay on track with their progress; continuous evaluation has been shown to increase chances of success. GAS is commonly used in eldercare settings, chronic pain treatment, and cognitive or behavioral therapy. Typically 3-4 goals are identified and the scores from these are combined into a single GAS score. A patient who performs at the expected level would receive a neutral score of 0. A patient doing better than expected would receive a +1 or +2. A patient doing worse than expected would receive a -1 or -2.