Title: Occupational Therapy (OT) - Special Subjects - Merck Manuals Professional Edition
Headings: Occupational Therapy (OT)
Occupational Therapy (OT)
Evaluation
Katz Activities of Daily Living Scale
Interventions
Assistive Devices

Content: Lists of occupational therapists may be obtained from a patient’s insurance carrier, a local hospital, the telephone book, state occupational training organizations, or the web site of the American Occupational Therapy Association. Patients are evaluated for limitations that require intervention and for strengths that can be used to compensate for weaknesses. Limitations may involve motor function, sensation, cognition, or psychosocial function. Examiners determine which activities (eg, work, leisure, social, learning) patients want or need help with. Patients may need help with a general type of activity (eg, social) or a specific activity (eg, attending church), or they may need to be motivated to do an activity. Therapists may use an assessment instrument to help in the evaluation. One of the many functional assessment instruments is described in {blank} Katz Activities of Daily Living Scale. Patients are asked about their social and family roles, habits, and social support systems. The availability of resources (eg, community programs and services, private attendants) should be determined. Table
Katz Activities of Daily Living Scale
Katz Activities of Daily Living Scale
Activity
Item
Score
Eating
Eats without assistance
2
Needs assistance only in cutting meat or buttering bread
1
Needs assistance in eating or is fed intravenously
0
Dressing
Gets clothes and dresses without assistance
2
Needs assistance only in tying shoes
1
Needs assistance in getting clothes or in getting dressed or stays partly or completely undressed
0
Bathing (sponge bath, tub bath, shower)
Bathes without assistance
2
Needs assistance only in bathing one part of the body (eg, back)
1
Needs assistance in bathing more than one part of the body or does not bathe
0
Transferring
Moves in and out of bed and chair without assistance (may use cane or walker)
2
Needs assistance in moving in and out of bed or chair
1
Does not get out of bed
0
Toileting
Goes to the bathroom, uses toilet, cleans self, arranges clothes, and returns without assistance (may use cane or walker for support and may use bedpan or urinal at night)
2
Needs assistance in going to the bathroom, using toilet, cleaning self, arranging clothes, or returning
1
Does not go to the bathroom to relieve bladder or bowel
0
Continence
Controls bladder and bowel completely (without occasional accidents)
2
Occasionally loses control of bladder and bowel
1
Needs supervision to control bladder or bowel, requires use of a catheter, or is incontinent
0
Modified from Katz S, Downs TD, Cash HR, et al: