The goal-attainment scale: an instructional guide for the delivery of social reinforcement

Goal-attainment scaling, a method for evaluating treatment programs, has been reported to benefit therapeutic encounters. In order to evaluate its effect on staff therapeutic behavior, raters were trained to rate the appropriateness of inpatient behavior and the staffs' responses to it. General distribution of the goal-attainment scale on a psychiatric inpatient unit influenced the delivery of positive social reinforcement for appropriate behavior.