There is an extensive literature on Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS), but the publications are widely scattered and often inaccessible, covering several foreign countries and many professional disciplines and fields of application. This book provides both a user manual and a complete reference work on GAS, including a comprehensive account of what the method is, what its strengths and limitations are, how it can be used, and what it can offer. The book is designed to be of interest to service providers, program directors and administrators, service and business organizations, program evaluators, researchers, and students in a variety of fields. No previous account of GAS has provided an up-to-date, comprehensive description and explanation of the technique. The chapters include a basic "how to do it" handbook, step-by-step implementation instructions, frequently occurring problems and what should be done about them, methods for monitoring the quality of the goal setting process, and a discussion of policy and administration issues. There are many illustrations from actual applications including examples of goals scaled for the individual, the specific program, the agency, or the total system. Procedures for training and estimates of training costs are also provided.

Includes names from the States of Alabama, Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, and Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Psychosomatic diseases are a group of diseases closely related to psychosocial factors but mainly manifested by somatic symptoms, involving respiratory, digestive, endocrine, and other systems. As a result, the lack of consensus on its diagnosis has plagued clinical treatment in internal medicine, surgery, and psychiatry for decades. In recent years, research on the pathogenesis of psychosomatic diseases has made significant progress. For example, Franz Alexander believes that unresolved subconscious conflicts are the main cause of psychosomatic disorders. The subconscious psychological conflict is caused by the changes in the functional activities of the autonomic nervous system, acting on the corresponding special organs and patients with susceptible qualities. Similarly, mental and psychological factors affect gastrointestinal sensory and motor functions through the autonomic nervous system, brain-gut axis, and neuroendocrine system. Meanwhile, gastrointestinal symptoms also affect emotions and behaviors through the brain-gut axis. In addition, the Cannon-Bard theory of emotional physiology and Pavlovian theory of higher neural activity types from quantitative research methods to study the relationship between conscious psychological factors, such as emotions, and measurable physiological and biochemical changes. In clinical work, the treatment of psychosomatic diseases has gradually shifted from emphasizing physical treatment to comprehensive treatment principles, that is, taking into account the psychological and behavioral aspects of the physical treatment of the primary disease. The main purpose of physical treatment of the primary disease is to control or relieve symptoms. To consolidate the treatment of psychosomatic diseases and reduce the recurrence of psychosomatic diseases, combining physical therapy with necessary psychotherapy would potentially obtain a more comprehensive curative effect.