Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine pp 1Cite as

Activities of Daily Living (ADL)

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

  • 67 Accesses

Synonyms

Frailty assessment; Level of occupational performance; Physical ability/disability

Definition

An activities of daily living (ADL) evaluation is an assessment of an individual’s physical and sometimes mental skills. In the area of physical or occupational therapy, it reflects how well a disabled patient or someone recovering from disease or accident can function in daily life. It is also used to determine how well patients relate to and participate in their environment (Krapp and Cengage 2006). Common examples of ADL include personal hygiene and feeding oneself.

Cross-References

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References and Further Reading

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, William James College, Newton, MA, USA

    Jane Upton

Authors
  1. Jane Upton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jane Upton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

    Marc Gellman

Section Editor information

  1. School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Anna C. Whittaker

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Upton, J. (2019). Activities of Daily Living (ADL). In: Gellman, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_436-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_436-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation