Lawton IADL Scale

Title of Assessment 

• Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) Scale

Author(s) 

• Lawton, M. P. & Brody, E. M.

Year of Publication/Publisher 

• 1969

Identify Type of Assessment 

• standardized

• questionnaire

• performance-based

• interview

• ipsative

Cost (identify source) & How to Access Assessment (include link if possible) 

• Free

• Lawton –Brody Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADL) (alz.org) 

Population (who it is appropriate for [age, diagnosis, etc.])  

• older adults and can be used for individuals in the community and hospital settings

• used as a baseline tool (can be compared to periodic assessment)

Appropriate Settings (potential practice settings appropriate to administer assessment in) 

• home health

• acute care

Purpose of Assessment & Function(s)/Area(s) Assessed  

• "The assessment of functional status is critical when caring for older adults. Normal aging changes, acute chronic illness, worsening chronic illness, and hospitalization can contribute to a decline in the ability to perform tasks necessary to assist with targeting individualized rehabilitation needs or to plan for specific in-home services (such as meal preparation, nursing care, homemaker services, personal care, or continuous supervision). a functional assessment can also assist the clinician to focus on the person's baseline capabilities, facilitating early recognition of changes that may signify a need for additional resources or a medical work-up" (Gallo, 2006.

• assesses independent living skills. 

Administration (time to administer, group/individual, if there are subtests, can they be completed individually, are there specific instructions to ensure standardization, etc.) 

• 10-20 minutes 

User Qualifications  

• no training required 

Materials Required  

•   form/questionnaire

• writing utensil 

Scoring Procedure (how is assessment scored and what does score indicate)  

• 8 domains of function measured with the Lawton IADL Scale

  • women are scored on all 8 areas of function: historically men were excluded from food preparation, housekeeping, and laundering 

  • clients are scored according to their highest level of functioning in that category

  • a summary of scores ranges from 0 (low functioning, dependent) to 8 (high functioning, independent for women, and 0-5 for men

  • the final total score may be presented as a percentage of function. 

    • a total score of 6 out of 8 would represent 75% function (75% independence, 25% dependence)

Psychometrics/Standardization (norms, reliability/validity studies) 

• inter-rater reliability= 0.85

Strengths & Weaknesses of Assessment  

•   strengths

  • quick to administer

  • easily administered 

• weaknesses

  • due to self-reporting there can be over or under-estimations in abilities

References 

• Brody instrumental activities of daily living scale (IADL) (n.d.). Lawton –Brody Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADL) (alz.org) 

• Lawton Scale: CGA toolkit plus. (n.d). Lawton Scale : CGA Toolkit Plus (cgakit.com)