Helene L. Soberg, Arnstein Finset, Olav Roise, Erik Bautz-Holter
DOI: 10.2340/16501977-0174

Objective: To explore and compare severely injured patients' rehabilitation goals with respect to their functioning and the reported goals of rehabilitation professionals.
Design: A prospective cohort study, including longitudinal data on patients' functioning and cross-sectional data from the patients' and professionals' goal descriptions.
Subjects: Sixty-six patients (53 men, 13 women, mean age 35 (standard deviation 13. 8) years) with multiple injuries with a New Injury Severity Score >15 and 76 physiotherapists and other municipal rehabilitation professionals/services.
Methods: Patient questionnaire and interview were applied after return home and a further questionnaire one year post-injury. Short-Form Health Survey was used for self-assessed health. A questionnaire was applied to the professionals. Rehabilitation goals were reported by patients and professionals. International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health coding of the goals was performed.
Results: Short-Form Health Survey scores were below those of the general population. The patients' goals concerned body functions/structures (8. 6%), activities (16. 2%) and participation (31. 7%). The professionals, mainly physiotherapists, reported few participation goals (10. 7%). Agreement between the patients' and professionals' goals were poor, with kappa scores ≤0. 20 for musculoskeletal functions/structures, self-care, mobility, interpersonal interactions/relationships, work and recreation/leisure. A statisticaly significant difference between patients' and professionals' goals was demonstrated for musculoskele¬tal functions/structures (p<0. 001), interpersonal interactions/relationships (p=0. 002), work (p=0. 001) and recrea¬tion/leisure (p=0. 002).
Conclusion: The patients mainly reported activity and participation goals. There was poor agreement between patients and professionals for body functions and participation goals.