Activities of daily living (ADLs)

If you're between the age of 45 and 65, there's a good chance you'll be supporting an elderly parent or relative.

In this post, I'll be continuing the Care at Home series by looking at Activities of Daily Living (sometimes abbreviated to ADLs).

ADLs are used by professionals to help assess the level of care a person requires. However, they can also give you a framework to make your own assessment of how an elderly parent or relative is coping and areas where they might need support.

ADLs are the basic tasks we undertake every day and the majority of us take for granted. However, they are fundamental in order to live at home and be fully independent. For example:

👚 Dressing and grooming: choosing clothes, being able to put them on, and managing personal appearance.

🚽 Toileting: getting to and from the toilet, using it, and cleaning.

🛁 Bathing: washing face and body either in the bath or shower.

🛌 Transferring: the ability to move your body from one position to another. For example, from bed to a chair or standing up from chair.

🚶‍♂️Walking: getting around the home or being able to venture outside.

🍽 Eating: the ability to get food from plate to mouth

In addition to these, it's also helpful to think about IADLs which stands for Instrumental Activities of Daily Living. These are the skills we learn from our teenage years onwards and require a greater level of thinking and skill, for example:

🚕 Managing transport: Driving, using public transport or arranging taxis

💷 Managing money: keeping on top of bills and managing any finance assets such as a pension.

🍛 Shopping and meals: From purchasing food to preparing it; everything involved in getting a meal to the table. It also covers shopping for other everyday items around the home and clothing.

🧹 House keeping. This is everything for maintaining a reasonably clean and tidy home to items of home maintenance, including arranging them.

☎️ Managing communication: Typically by telephone and post but increasingly email and video calls too.

👩‍⚕️ Managing medication: Everything from repeat prescription, to pharmacy collection or delivery and taking medications at the correct times and in the right doses, and perhaps with or without food.

People who struggle with ADLs and IADLs usually have some physical or cognitive health issues. By observing any difficulties in these areas, you can see more clearly how a person you care for might be supported at home.

I hope this post has been useful and if I can do anything to shed light on supporting a loved one at home, then please get in touch.