Assessments of Activities of Daily Living and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living: Their Use by Community-Based Health Service Occupational Therapists Working in Physical Disability

Abstract

A preliminary study was carried out to evaluate the appropriateness of activities of dally living (ADL) scales as outcome measures for a community-based multidiscipilnary service to physically disabled young people. A literature search was undertaken which raised several questions and concerns. To find out how other teams addressed these issues, telephone interviews were conducted with occupational therapists working in similar NHS teams. They were asked about the nature of their services, their use of ADL and ADL scales and whether these were administered as outcome measures.