The effect of a designated tool on person-centred goal identification and service planning among older people receiving homecare in New Zealand

This study sought to determine the ability of a designated tool developed to identify client-directed goals in a sample of older people referred for homecare. A retrospective pre/post-intervention design was used and a total of 360 older people in an urban centre in New Zealand were included in the analysis. All clients receiving services at the time of data collection (July 2007) who were referred for service provision between July 2003 and the implementation in January 2007 of a restorative model of homecare were included in the analysis. The restorative model of homecare included a designated goal-facilitation tool [Towards Achieving Realistic Goal in Elders Tool (TARGET)]. Prior to the use of TARGET, participants had a goal recorded for their home-care episode in 31 cases (8.6%), whereas following the implementation of TARGET, goals were recorded in 339 cases (94.2%). At a quarterly review, eight clients (2.2%) achieved their goal prior to TARGET, whereas 172 clients (47.8%) fully achieved their goal when TARGET was utilised. Within the sample, multinomial logistic regression showed that the use of TARGET significantly improved goal attainment. Furthermore, moderate-to-severe cognitive impairment significantly reduced the successful attainment of goals. The study highlighted the importance of a designated tool for facilitating older people to set goals that are then used in developing support plans to structure services to assist them in the home. The need for alternative strategies for goal setting for people with significant cognitive impairment was highlighted. This study, in attempting to determine the effect of a goal-facilitation tool as a driver for quality improvement in homecare, had an observational comparative design, this being the most pragmatic option to assess the feasibility of TARGET prior to further work being undertaken. The results do show that in this sample of older people receiving homecare, the use of TARGET led to a greater proportion of goal identification, higher rates of goal attainment and a more diverse range of categories of goals than traditional non-structured methods of goal setting.