Goal management tendencies predict trajectories of adjustment to lower limb amputation up to 15 months post rehabilitation discharge.

Objectives: To explore patterns of change in positive affect, general adjustment to lower-limb amputation, and self-reported disability from rehabilitation admission to 15 months postdischarge, and to examine whether goal pursuit and goal adjustment tendencies predict either initial status or rates of change in these outcomes, controlling for sociodemographic and clinical covariates.
Design: Prospective cohort study with 4 time points (t1: on admission; t2: 6wk postdischarge; t3: 6mo postdischarge; t4: 15mo postdischarge).
Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation.
Participants: Consecutive sample (N=98) of persons aged ≥18 years with major lower-limb amputation.
Interventions: Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures: Positive affect subscale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; general adjustment subscale of the Trinity Amputation and Prosthesis Experience Scales-Revised; and World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0.
Results: Positive affect decreased from t1 to t4 for the overall sample, whereas general adjustment increased. Self-reported disability scores remained stable over this period. Stronger goal pursuit tendencies were associated with greater positive affect at t1, and stronger goal adjustment tendencies were associated with more favorable initial scores on each outcome examined. With regard to rates of change, stronger goal pursuit tendencies buffered against decreases in positive affect and promoted decreases in self-reported disability over time, whereas stronger goal adjustment tendencies enhanced increases in general adjustment to lower-limb amputation.
Conclusions: Greater use of goal pursuit and goal adjustment strategies appears to promote more favorable adjustment to lower-limb amputation over time across a range of important rehabilitation outcomes.
(Copyright © 2014 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)