Awareness of activity limitations, goal setting and rehabilitation outcome in patients with brain injuries

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between self-awareness, goal setting ability (i.e. ability to set realistic goals) and performance/outcome in a cognitive task and for rehabilitation. RESEARCH DESIGN: Regression analyses were conducted to compare the predictive power of self-awareness and demographic/neuropsychological variables on goal setting ability and performance/outcome. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Self-awareness of 63 patients with brain injuries was measured by direct clinicians' rating and the difference between patient and staff ratings in a questionnaire. RESULTS: The awareness measures predicted 32% of the variance for goal setting ability in the rehabilitation context but only 4% of the goal setting variance in the cognitive task. Similarly, self-awareness predicted 33% of the variance for rehabilitation outcome but only 5% of the performance in the cognitive task. CONCLUSIONS: Self-awareness seems to be related to goal setting ability and outcome in a long-term rehabilitation process but less in short-term experimental tasks.