Goal management in chronic illness – from assessment to intervention

Abstract

Aims: The aims of this symposium are to: 1. Present the latest empirical insights on the topic of goal management in the context of chronic illness. 2. Advance research on goal management by bringing together findings from studies in patients with different chronic conditions and using different research methodology. 3. Familiarize the audience with commonly used methods for assessing goal management and their strengths and limitations. 4. Generate new ideas about how to improve research on goal management, in particular the assessment of goal management . Rationale: Goals are at the heart of many health psychological theories and interventions. Over the past decade, there has been increasing awareness of the relevance of goal management in the adaptation to chronic illness. Yet, assessing goal management remains a challenging endeavour. This conference offers a distinct opportunity to share ideas on how to further goal research by improving the assessment of goal management. Summary: Goal management has been identified as a central mechanism in the adaptation to chronic health conditions. In this symposium, we bring together the latest empirical insights into goal management in four different chronic conditions and discuss directions for future research. First, four speakers from three different countries present findings of quantitative and qualitative studies in which they examined: (1) how breast cancer patients cope with personal goal disturbance across the six months post-surgery (2) how personal goals are managed in the context of chronic headache, (3) if flexible goal adjustment protects quality of life in patients with multiple sclerosis (4) how a goal management intervention affects well-being in arthritis patients. Second, we discuss challenges in the assessment of goal management and share ideas on how current assessment methods could be improved.