Functional Assessment and Home Safety Assessment

A person's ability to complete their activities of daily living, maintain their quality of life and live safely and independently may be called into question at various stages of their lives. A functional assessment or a home safety assessment will quantify the degree of difficulty the person is experiencing.

It will enable the therapist to develop a rehabilitation programme for the client and/or advise the client and their family about the type and degree of assistance they require to improve or maintain their quality of life.

Functional and home safety assessments can be used to assess, and advise about a client's ability to live independently and to assess the degree of and type of assistance one requires to live independently.

Home safety assessments can also be used to identify potential falls hazards in an individual's environment and implement changes to maximise falls prevention.

All input is informed by reliable and valid assessment tools

• The SAFER tool
• Allen Cognitive Level Test
• Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS)

Home safety and functional assessments have been used to:

• Examine an individual's ability to return home after a stroke
• Help a family decide what care was most appropriate for their mother when her memory was failing
• Assist nursing home staff in developing an activity programme for resident's with cognitive impairment e.g. disorientation
• Implement falls prevention intervention in the home of a frequent faller.