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Activities of daily living

Activities of Daily Living ADLs & IADLs Help

Activities of Daily Living: What Are ADL's and IADL's?

Oftentimes, patients begin noticing that an illness, medical condition, or injury has started to make their daily living activities, too difficult. This may simply occur as part of the aging process as well. They want to improve their circumstances and stay in the comfort of home but prefer not to depend on their family for fear that they could be burdening their loved ones.
Many find hope with Alvita Care. Alvita Care is a reliable provider that’s tailored home care services to meet the needs of individuals while encouraging independence at home.
We understand that families face difficulties when a loved one is no longer able to accomplish basic daily living activities without assistance. Activities such as eating, climbing the stairs on their own, or dressing. Alvita can help.

We are a home health care agency that provides in-home caregivers to seniors living in New York City and Long Island through our proprietary matching process.

Activities of daily living (ADLs)?

Let’s consider activities of daily living (ADLs) as basically categorized self-care tasks, similar to the kinds of motor skills that we usually learned in early childhood. Most senior home care service providers and health professionals group the activities of daily living into the following six categories:

  • Bathing: consists of grooming tasks such as brushing teeth, shaving and brushing hair
  • Dressing: choosing garments that are appropriate. Capable of dressing and undressing. Zippers, buttons, or other fasteners are easily managed
Elderly women playing cards and having tea together, activities of daily living (ADLs).
  • Eating: feeding oneself
  • Transferring: able to walk independently, or, if not ambulatory, being able to transfer oneself from wheelchair to bed and back
  • Continence: able to control bowels and bladder, or is able to manage incontinence independently
  • Toileting: capable of using the toilet

ADLs are often mentioned by geriatric-care management professionals in connection with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs; see below), which are slightly more complex skills.

ADLs are occasionally referred to as basic activities of daily living (BADLs).

A senior couple having discussion with man, ADLs.

What are instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs)?

Complex skills called Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) are needed in order to continue to live independently. Usually, these are learned during our teenage years and include:

  • Telephone use: capable of dialing numbers, looking up numbers, etc.
  • Medication management: taking the correct dosages of medications on time
  • Preparing meals: making appropriate food choices and preparing meals safely
  • Caring for the home: performing housekeeping and laundry duties or arranging for services
  • Managing finances: difficulty paying bills on time, paying mortgage/rent, budgeting, etc.
  • Shopping: not being able to grocery shop or shop for other necessities. Able to manage transportation of purchases from the store to their home
  • Using transportation: being able to drive or use public transportation for appointments, shopping, etc.

Together, ADLs and IADLs represent the skills and abilities that elder seniors usually need to manage and live on their own independently.

When assessing an older person’s functions, rehabilitation specialists, doctors, and geriatric social workers will assess ADLs and IADLs to determine the abilities of the patient and whether or not additional care is required. Some difficulties can occur when managing IADLs in those with dementia and early Alzheimer’s. Assessing IADLs is a helpful guide in diagnosing and evaluating a patient, which can determine what kind of in-home care assistance an older person may need on a day-to-day basis.
Alvita Care an NYC home health care agency provides dependable and professional caregivers who assist with many daily living activities ensuring that you or a loved one is remaining healthy and safe, with home care services ranging anywhere from a few hours to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.