After researching personal hygiene assessments online on basic self-care and personal hygiene for a skills group at an outpatient clinic, I realized there were few resources out there for adults with serious mental illness (SMI) or their mental health providers.
 
My name is Kayla Uimari; you can learn more about me and my experience on the About Me page. I work with adults with serious mental illness (SMI), including psychotic disorders like schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, mood disorders, and personality disorders, to name a few. My clients have a history of resistance, disengagement, or other barriers to typical mental health treatment. Many of our clients have a history of repeated incarceration, hospitalization, and co-occurring disorders, and struggle with housing stability, ADLs (activities of daily living), socialization, and more. All of these clients have strengths that some providers aren't looking at as tools for recovery. 
 
I created a curriculum and researched material for a skills group called Life Skills for Recovery for outpatient adult clients with SMI. During my research, I decided to create my own assessment that would assess basic personal hygiene habits, self-awareness, and some ADLs, for adults of varying degrees of functionality with SMI.
The assessment is strengths-based to assist clients, their case managers/therapists/psychiatrists/and other mental health providers in identifying clients' natural skills and abilities while locating areas for growth. 
 
Includes: 
Personal Appearance Scales (4 scaling prompts)
Self-Esteem Scale (1 scaling question)
Responses (8 yes or no questions)
Evaluation & References (score the assessment and view references)
 
By Kayla Uimari, MSW Intern; Supervision and Approval for Client Utilization by Theresa Marinas, LCSW and Elizabeth Smith, ACSW.
 
Self-Report Assessment for Adults with Serious Mental Illness; SMI; 2022
*Has not been developed, researched, approved, or utilized for adults with developmental/intellectual disabilities and may not apply. Consult with your supervisor or other licensed/clinical professional for more guidance. 
 
Strengths, Areas for Growth, and Recovery Plan coming soon.
 
References
Kelly, P. A., Dyer, C. B., Pavlik, V., Doody, R., & Jogerst, G. (2008). Exploring self-neglect in older adults: preliminary findings of the self-neglect severity scale and next steps. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 56 Suppl 2(Suppl 2), S253–S260. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2008.01977.x
Self-care assessment worksheet physical self-care - brown university. Brown.edu. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.brown.edu/campus-life/health/services/promotion/sites/healthpromo/files /self%20care%20assessment%20and%20planning.pdf
[Adapted by BWell Health Promotion from: Transforming the Pain: A Workbook on Vicarious Traumatization. Saakvitne, Pearlman & Sta of TSI/ CAAP (Norton, 1996)]
Stevenson, R. J., Case, T. I., Hodgson, D., Porzig-Drummond, R., Barouei, J., & Oaten, M. J. (2009). A scale for measuring hygiene behavior: Development, reliability and validity. American Journal of Infection Control, 37(7), 557–564. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2009.01.003