Lawton-Brody Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale

Synonyms

Lawton-Brody iADL scale; Lawton iADL scale

Description

The Lawton-Brody Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (iADL) scale covers eight functional domains: using the telephone, shopping, food preparation, housekeeping, laundry, transport, medication, and finances. Competence is rated according to descriptions of the person’s level of involvement/ability in each activity (e.g., for using the telephone, four levels of competence are described: operates telephone on own initiative, looks up and dials numbers, etc.; dials a few well-known numbers; answers telephone but does not dial; does not use telephone at all). It should be administered by a researcher or practitioner with relevant qualifications, with ratings derived from interview, which should take between 10 and 15 min. Activities in which a person has never participated are excluded (e.g., males are not assessed on laundry, meal preparation, and housekeeping if their wife has always taken responsibility for these...