Effect of unexpected outcomes and causal attributions on key workers' expectancies of goal attainment

Goal planning is an integral part of the role of the key worker in services for people with intellectual disability. The present study investigated th e effect of the Weiner stability-expectancy principle on unexpected outcome s in goal planning. Four hundred and twenty-two actual goal attainment scal es were constructed, with each scale describing the key workers' expected l evels of outcome. Two hundred and twenty-six (54%) unexpected outcomes, bot h successful and unsuccessful, were then rated by key workers to provide a causal explanation for each outcome. These explanations were then grouped a ccording to whether the attributions represented stable or variable causes. Finally, key workers were asked to provide a new expectancy rating to fore cast future goal attainment. Two predictions from Weiner's model were confi rmed by statistical analysis: (1) that success attributed to stable factors would lead to higher revised forecasts of goal attainment than success att ributed to variable factors; and (2) that failure attributed to stable fact ors would lead to lower revised forecasts of goal attainment than failure a ttributed to variable factors. The results of the present study confirm tha t stability attributions do alter key workers' revised forecasts of goal at tainment. The results are discussed in terms of the possible consequences f or key worker behaviour, such as goal abandonment, differential treatment o f service users and the need for a knowledgeable approach to performance ap praisal by managers.