Skills are rated and recorded for each task assessed. Habits are behaviors that are performed automatically without premeditation. Habits are often assessed by interviewing patients and their caregivers. No uniform system for describing habit deficits exists. Competency in performing a task does not indicate competency in daily living.
Inconsistency is characterized by occasional refusal to perform regular tasks.
For example, patients with organic or emotional problems may feed themselves at one meal but refuse to do so at the next. Disorganization is characterized by procrastination, haphazard collection of task materials, and progress that is not consistently goal-directed. The inability to anticipate, create, and carry out a plan is a salient feature of organic or emotional disorders. Inflexibility is characterized by an inability to vary routines to accommodate unforeseen or changing circumstances and an inability to adjust emotionally when routines are changed. For example, elderly patients may try to maintain their customary housecleaning schedule even though it now causes exhaustion.