Frenchay Activities Index (FAI)
What It Measures
The Frenchay Activities Index asks what a person has actually been doing lately — not whether they could do it. Most daily living scales measure capability in self-care and mobility. The FAI instead records how often someone has prepared a meal, washed clothes, gone shopping, driven or taken the bus, read a book, gardened, or gone out socially.
Fifteen activities are scored by frequency over the past three or six months, depending on the activity, giving a total from 0 to 45 in the widely used modified scoring. Items group into three areas: domestic chores, leisure and work, and outdoor activities. Because it asks about frequency rather than ability, it captures the gap between what someone can do and what they are doing.
Additional Notes
Licensing Notes: The instrument is reproduced widely in clinical resources and trial protocols without a posted fee.
Learn More: Two scoring conventions are in circulation and produce different numbers for the same person. The original scores each item 1 to 4 for a total of 15 to 60. The modified version (Wade et al., 1985) scores each item 0 to 3 for a total of 0 to 45. Check which a study or chart used before comparing. Proxy reporting works well here — a relative's answers have been shown to be interchangeable with the person's own, with proxy agreement of ICC 0.85, which makes the FAI usable when cognitive impairment rules out self-report.
