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INSTRUMENTAL ADL
A vital element of the Safety Appraisal for Elders (SAFE)
is the section on Activities of Daily Living. Survival
skills depend on the ability to perform basic activities
such as bathing, dressing, and eating. Other daily life
activities such as food preparation, emergency planning
and home management are instrumental skills in daily
life that make participation in life meaningful and
possible. Respondents completing the SAFE, assess one's
own skills, providing insight into personal abilities
in daily life. Noticing change is critical to determining
barriers to healthy functioning and taking steps to
overcoming those barriers. Completing the SAFE increases
self awareness.
PARTICIPATION
Participation in daily life activities is vital for
all human beings. The World Health Organization defines
"participation" as involvement in a life situation,
and recognizes health can be affected by the inability
to carry out activities and participate in life situations,
as well as by problems that exist with body structures
and functions. Understanding the factors that influence
meaningful participation is the first important step
in supporting health and wellness for older adults living
independently at home.
ASSISTIVE DEVICES
Losing the ability to perform activities of daily living
is a major decision making factor for nursing home placement.
For many people, losing abilities to perform daily life
skills are deliberately not addressed, or kept as a
secret . As a result, many older adults are unaware
of the assistive devices or physical and behavioral
alternatives that are available or can be chosen to
make life easier, more comfortable and safer.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS
How many thousands of hours a year do you spend doing
physically demanding activities? Physically demanding
activities include bending, reaching, lifting, carrying,
climbing, kneeling, moving things, squatting and holding
things. In short, these are activities that are basic
to daily life. We use these actions continually. The
key to safety is to work smartly, with the least amount
of physical stress to the body as possible. For
a list of physical demands definitions,
click here.
A Benchmark of Health and Safety: Independence in
ADL
See article
Helpful Tips for Independent Living
Doing basic ADL requires muscle strength, coordination,
balance, cognitive and sensory skills and adequate joint
range of motion. All of these things depend on
good blood circulation and good breathing ability.
See article
How to Approach Cooking Single Handedly with
Physical Challenges
See
article
Single Handed Cooking Challenges
This article includes ideas to use to circumvent or
compensate for physical challenges in the kitchen.
See
article
Independence in ADL: More Valuable than
Health and Safety
I was thinking about what it means to be independent in
ADL's. My grandparents immediately came to mind. Nanny
and Poppy were born around 1910. They were the
generation that relied only on themselves. It was their
way of life, and it was good...
See article
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