Participants' experiences crossed the domains of palliative care and suggest that adopting a palliative care approach would enhance an enhanced quality of life, experienced in terms of meaningful and valuable occupation. Disruption to participation in occupation caused them distress and frustration, suggesting that access to occupation-focused therapy would significantly improve quality of life for people with PD. As there is a strong link between the ethos of occupational therapy and palliative care, it is proposed that there is a valuable role for occupational therapy intervention to play within palliative care.

This is the first of two articles critically evaluating the Barthel Index to measure activities of daily living (ADL). Part 1 examines the concept of ADL and looks at the index as an instrument for assessment. Part 2 will review evidence of its standardisation, validity and reliability.

litiS is the second of two articles providing a critical evaluation of the Barthel Index as a measure of activities of daily JiVing. Part 2 reviews evidence of the test's standardisation, validity and reliability. It also discusses the usefulness of the test for an occupational therapist in clinical practice and stresses the need for standardised assessment within the profession.