Comprehensive evaluation of basic living skills.

In this paper a rationale is established for an evaluation of basic living skills for chronic psychiatric patients living in mental institutions, and a comprehensive evaluation is presented. The advantages of this battery of tests over currently used activities of daily living scales are: it is specifically designed for psychiatric patients, it tests a wide range of skills, the items are graded in complexity, it can be administered in full or in part, and it has a scoring system and a summary that indicates the patient's functional status. The information gained from the evaluation improves staff communication about patient care and aids in the planning of the patient's future placement or treatment situation.