4/7/2016 Self­Care 

and Domestic Life — Guide to Phys. Therapist Prac.

Self-Care and Domestic Life

Self-care is caring for oneself, washing and drying oneself, caring for one's body parts, dressing, eating and
drinking, and looking after one's health. Domestic life management is carrying out everyday actions and tasks
associated with home life, such as acquiring and maintaining a living space, shopping, performing household
tasks, caring for dependents, and performing yard work.

The physical therapist uses tests and measures to make judgments as to whether an individual is prepared to
assume or resume independent living with or without the need for assistive technology or environmental
adaptations.

Examples of Clinical Indications:

Risk factors for activity limitations and participation restrictions in self-care and domestic life

Lack of safety awareness in all environments

Recent or chronic reduction in mobility

Risk-prone behaviors (eg, performance of tasks requiring repetitive motion, lack of safety gear
use)

Sedentary lifestyle

Suboptimal posture

Health, wellness, and တtness needs

Fitness, including physical performance (eg, inadequate strength, balance, or endurance to

accomplish essential tasks or perform necessary activities)

Health and wellness (eg, inadequate understanding regarding adaptations to allow independent
function)

Pathology or health condition

Cardiovascular (eg, cerebral vascular accident, congestive heart failure [CHF], peripheral vascular
disease [PVD])

Endocrine (eg, rheumatologic or diabetic disorders)

Musculoskeletal (eg, muscular dystrophy [MD])

Neuromuscular (eg, multiple sclerosis [MS])

Pulmonary (eg, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD])

Multisystem (eg, trauma, amputation)

Impairments of body functions and structures

Aerobic capacity (eg, shortness of breath at rest and with activity)

Circulation (eg, edema, orthostatic hypotension)

Gait (eg, abnormalities increasing risk or rate of falling in the home environment)

Muscle performance (eg, pelvic တoor dysfunction, di†culty with reaching, carrying, or transfers)

Range of motion (eg, inability to dress due to limited shoulder range)

Ventilation and respiration (eg, shortness of breath when attempting to sweep the တoor)

Activity limitations and participation restrictions

Self-care (eg, di†culty climbing in and out of tub and shower or dressing a wound due to limited
range of motion and strength)

Domestic life (eg, di†culty scrubbing or accessing limited spaces in bathrooms due to decreased
endurance and coordination, inability to wash clothes due to loss of strength)

Education life (eg, inability to access education campuses due to environmental barriers)

Work life (eg, inability to eတectively perform job due to fatigue from preparing for work)

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Community, social, and civic life (eg, inability to engage in community social events due to
inability to properly dress oneself)

Examples of What Tests and Measures May Characterize or Quantify:

Ability to gain access to home environments (eg, barrier identiတcation, observations, physical
performance tests) Speciတc Tests and Measures in PTNow

Ability to assume or resume activities related to self-care and home management activities with
or without assistive technology (eg, activities of daily living [ADL] scales, aerobic capacity tests,
instrumental activities of daily living [IADL] scales, interviews, observations, proတles) Speciတc
Tests and Measures in PTNow

Safety in performing self-care and home management activities (eg, diaries, fall scales,
interviews, logs, observations, reports, videographic assessments) Speciတc Tests and Measures in
PTNow

Examples of Data-Gathering Tools:

Barrier identiတcation checklists

Diaries

Indexes

Interviews

Inventories

Logs

Observations

Proတles

Questionnaires

Reports

Scales

Video cameras and video recordings

Examples of Data Used in Documentation:

Descriptions and quantiတcations of:

Descriptions of need for devices or equipment

Functional capacity
Level of ability to participate in variety of environments
Level of safety in self-care and domestic life activities
Physiologic responses to activity performance

Last updated August 1, 2014.

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