Functional assessment in rehabilitation.

The instruments that assess the functional living skills of chronically mentally ill individuals are reviewed. The instruments range from those that provide relatively global assessments of major life roles such as wage earner and student, to those that provide relatively specific assessments of behaviors such as personal hygiene and money management skills. The content, format, psychometric characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of each instrument are presented in detail so that the reader can select the instrument that best suits the purposes of the assessment.