Activities of Daily Living (ADL)

Activities of daily living are activities related to personal care and include bathing or showering, dressing, getting in or out of bed or a chair, using the toilet, and eating. In the National Health Interview Survey respondents were asked about needing the help of another person with personal care needs because of a physical, mental, or emotional problem. Persons are considered to have an ADL limitation if any condition(s) causing the respondent to need help with the specific activities was chronic.

In the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, if a sample person had any difficulty performing an activity by him or herself and without special equipment, or did not perform the activity at all because of health problems, the person was categorized as having a limitation in that activity. The limitation may have been temporary or chronic at the time of the interview. 

In the Chartbook on Trends in Health of Americans, a sample person was categorized as having a limitation in their activities of daily living if, in addition to having any difficulty performing an activity or not performing the activity because of health problems, the sample person also received help or supervision with at least one of the following six activities: bathing or showering, dressing, eating, getting in or out of bed or chairs, walking, and using the toilet.

Sample people who were administered a community interview answered health status and functioning questions themselves, if able to do so. A proxy, such as a nurse, answered questions about the sample person's health status and functioning for those in a long-term care facility. Beginning in 1997, interview questions for persons in long-term care facilities were changed slightly from those administered to persons in the community in order to differentiate residents who were independent from those who received supervision or assistance with transferring, locomotion on unit, dressing, eating, toilet use, and bathing.

SOURCE: Health, United States

Related Links
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL)
Limitation of Activity

This page last reviewed September 11, 2008