Activities of daily living (
ADLs or
ADL) is a term used in healthcare to refer to people's daily
self care activities. The concept of ADLs was originally proposed in the 1950s by
Dr. Sidney Katz and his team at the Benjamin Rose Hospital in Cleveland, OH and has been added to and refined by a variety of researchers since that time.
Health professionals often use a person's ability or inability to perform ADLs as a measurement of their
functional status, particularly in regard to people with
disabilities and the
elderly. Younger children often require help from adults to perform ADLs, as they have not yet developed the skills necessary to perform them
independently]