This study explored if a youth-specific mental health service routinely set goals with young people during initial intake/assessment and if goal setting and goal quality in this service was associated with patient retention. Consecutive initial assessments (n = 283) and administrative service data from two youth-specific health services in Australia were audited for evidence of goal setting, content and quality of the goal and number of therapy services provided after the intake/assessment process. Logistic regression was used to determine if goal setting was associated with disengagement after the assessment session, controlling for drug use, unemployment, age, gender, mental health diagnosis and service site. A consecutive sub-sample of 166 goals (74 participants), was analysed for goal quality. Each goal was assessed against three components of the SMART (specific, measurable, acceptable/achievable, realistic and timed goals) criteria; specific, measurable and timed; and assigned a goal quality score 1–3. A multiple regression explored whether goal quality was predictive of the number of sessions attended, controlling for the same variables as the logistic regression. Goal setting was evident in the records of 187 participants (66%). Although most goals were for emotional management, 24% addressed improvements in function. Of the 166 goals analysed in depth, 95 were specific, 23 measurable, but none were timed. Not setting goals during initial assessments correlated with service disengagement (OR 0.30, p > 0.001). Goal setting was positively associated with more therapy sessions attended, regardless of goal quality rating. Engagement and retention of young people within mental health services can be challenging. Clinical tools such as goal setting may keep young people engaged in services longer, potentially improving clinical outcomes. Further research exploring the effectiveness of current youth service models on client-specific goal based outcomes is recommended.

中文翻译：

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目标设定提高青年心理健康的保留率：横断面分析

本研究探讨了针对青少年的心理健康服务是否在初始摄入/评估期间定期与年轻人设定目标，以及该服务中的目标设定和目标质量是否与患者保留率相关。对来自澳大利亚两个针对青年的健康服务的连续初始评估 (n = 283) 和行政服务数据进行审计，以获取目标设定、目标的内容和质量以及在摄入/评估过程后提供的治疗服务数量的证据。逻辑回归用于确定目标设定是否与评估会议后的脱离接触有关，控制药物使用、失业、年龄、性别、心理健康诊断和服务地点。分析了 166 个目标（74 名参与者）的连续子样本的目标质量。每个目标都根据 SMART 标准的三个组成部分（具体、可衡量、可接受/可实现、现实和定时目标）进行评估；具体的、可衡量的和定时的；并分配目标质量得分 1-3。多元回归探讨了目标质量是否可以预测参加的会议数量，控制与逻辑回归相同的变量。目标设定在 187 名参与者 (66%) 的记录中很明显。尽管大多数目标是情绪管理，但 24% 的目标是改善功能。在深入分析的 166 个目标中，95 个是具体的，23 个是可衡量的，但没有一个是定时的。在与服务脱离相关的初始评估期间未设定目标（OR 0.30，p > 0.001）。无论目标质量评级如何，目标设定与参加的治疗次数呈正相关。青年人在精神卫生服务中的参与和保留可能具有挑战性。目标设定等临床工具可以让年轻人更长时间地参与服务，从而可能改善临床结果。建议进一步研究探索当前青年服务模式对基于客户特定目标的结果的有效性。