Goal-setting improves movement accuracy during unsupervised training in stroke patients

This pilot study investigated whether goal-setting leads to good behavioral performance and high motivation during an unsupervised reaching task in patients with subacute stroke. Using a single-blind, stratified randomized controlled design, 50 patients with unilateral upper-extremity motor paralysis were allocated to either a goal-setting group (n = 25) or a control group (n = 25) without goal setting. Both groups performed an unsupervised reaching task during a 15-minute session. The primary outcome measures included the total time spent in training and the success rate of reaching tasks. The secondary outcome was self-reported motivation assessed using a visual analog scale. Although there were no significant differences in the median [interquartile range] training time between goal-setting and control groups (636 [500-709] sec vs. 633 [494-715] sec, p = 0.771), the goal-setting group demonstrated significantly higher success rates than the control group (92.6 [82.9-96.0]% vs. 80.7 [65.4-92.6]%, p = 0.019). Self-reported motivation scores showed no significant differences between the groups (76 [60-95] vs. 84 [49-97], p = 0.994). These findings suggest that goal setting can help patients accurately perform reaching movements during unsupervised training, potentially enhancing the quality of motor performance in self-rehabilitation.