The Lawton instrumental activities of daily living scale

Activities	Points
Ability to use telephone
1. Operates telephone on own initiative; looks up and dials numbers	1
2. Dials a few well-known numbers	1
3. Answers telephone but does not dial	1
4. Does not use telephone at all	0
Shopping
1. Takes care of all shopping needs independently	1
2. Shops independently for small purchases	0
3. Needs to be accompanied on any shopping trip	0
4. Completely unable to shop	0
Food preparation
1. Plans, prepares, and serves adequate meals independently	1
2. Prepares adequate meals if supplied with ingredients	0
3. Heats and serves prepared meals or prepares meals, but does not maintain adequate diet	0
4. Needs to have meals prepared and served	0
Housekeeping
1. Maintains house alone with occasional assistance (heavy work)	1
2. Performs light daily tasks such as dishwashing, bed making	1
3. Performs light daily tasks but cannot maintain acceptable level of cleanliness	1
4. Needs help with all home maintenance tasks	1
5. Does not participate in any housekeeping tasks	0

Activities	Points
Laundry
1. Does personal laundry completely	1
2. Launders small items, rinses socks, stockings, etc	1
3. All laundry must be done by others	0
Mode of transportation
1. Travels independently on public transportation or drives own car	1
2. Arranges own travel via taxi but does not otherwise use public transportation	1
3. Travels on public transportation when assisted or accompanied by another	1
4. Travel limited to taxi or automobile with assistance of another	0
5. Does not travel at all	0
Responsibility for own medications
1. Is responsible for taking medication in correct doses at correct time	1
2. Takes responsibility if medication is prepared in advance in separate doses	0
3. Is not capable of dispensing own medication	0
Ability to handle finances
1. Manages financial matters independently (budgets, writes checks, pays rent and bills, goes to bank); collects and keeps track of income	1
2. Manages day-to-day purchases but needs help with banking, major purchases, etc	1
3. Incapable of handling money	0

Scoring: For each category, circle the item description that most closely resembles the client's highest functional level (either 0 or 1).
A summary score ranges from 0 (dependent, requires significant assistance to live in the community) to 8 (independent, no assistance required to maintain self in community).

Reproduced with permission from: Lawton MP, Brody EM. Assessment of older people: Self-maintaining and instrumental activities of daily living. Gerontologist 1969, 9:179. Copyright © 1969 Oxford University Press.

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