ADL or IADL Assistance: Which One Do You Need?

Like all professions, the home care industry has it's fair share of jargon. Two terms you may hear tossed around a lot are ADL and IADL, which stand for Activities of Daily Living and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living. In fact, when you start looking around for home care many agencies may ask you whether you need ADL or IADL care. Knowing a little more about what exactly ADL and IADL encompass can help you make that decision.

Though the exact definitions vary regionally, in general ADL refers to six tasks that have to do with basic personal care: bathing yourself, dressing yourself, being able to use the toilet alone, eating without help, walking, and something called functional transfers, which means being able to do things like getting in and out of bed or chairs by yourself. These are considered six basic functions that are necessary for maintaining a reasonable level of self-care, and most people who have trouble with ADLs are either using or in need of home care. There are a lot of options for those who have trouble with ADLs depending on how many of them a person has trouble doing along with their health condition and mental capacity. Most people who use home care for help with ADLs are either on long-term care or daily (or even live-in) care.

IADL are a little more advanced, and deal more with things that let a person function in the community instead of their own personal health and hygiene. The six IADL activities are housework, meal preparation, shopping for groceries or clothes, taking medications properly and on time, managing money appropriately, and being able to use the telephone. Though it is sometimes harder to determine whether a person needs help with IADLs because they are a bit more subjective -- for instance, everyone has different views on acceptable levels of housework or money management -- many home care programs deal strictly with IADL help, which makes it easy to find a program that suits a person's particular IADL needs.

Of course, many programs are a blend of ADL and IADL assistance, and the boundary between the two is not set in stone. In fact, a lot of people start out with ADL care and then rehabilitate into IADL care, or vice versa should their health or mental capacity deteriorate. This means that it is important to choose a company or plan that is flexible when it comes to ADL and IADL care, preferably one that is tailored to help with the specific ADL or IADL tasks that are hard for you.