[Individually arranged and continuously reevaluated treatment goals as an instrument for improving inpatient...

An agreement about individual therapy goals at the beginning of inpatient psychotherapy improves motivation and engagement of patients, and makes orientation about the planned therapy easier. Furthermore, therapy goals are an effective tool in the quality-assurance of the therapeutic process. On our ward, therapy goals are negotiated individually between patient and therapist some time before admission. The therapy goals of our inpatients are documented and concretized weekly. First empiric results showed, that individual therapy goals are an interesting instrument not only for the evaluation of the therapeutic process, but also for the evaluation of outcome. The introduction of individualized treatment goals in the treatment setting was well accepted by patients and team members.