Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)

Activities of daily living are classified into basic ADLs [link to ADLs] and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) IADLs are those activities which require more complex thinking and organizational skills related to the ability to live independently in the community. These include activities such as managing finances and medications, food preparation, housekeeping, laundry.

Deeper dive
The Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) Scale is used to evaluate independent living skills. The instrument is most useful for identifying how a person is functioning and pinpointing improvement or deterioration over time.

The scale measures eight domains of function:

1. Transportation and shopping: Ability to procure groceries, attend events, manage transportation, either via driving or by organizing other means of transport.
2. Managing finances: This includes the ability to pay bills and managing financial assets.
3. Shopping and meal preparation, i.e., everything required to get a meal on the table. It also covers shopping for clothing and other items required for daily life.
4. House cleaning and home maintenance. Cleaning kitchens after eating, maintaining living areas reasonably clean and tidy, and keeping up with home maintenance.
5. Managing communication with others: The ability to manage telephone and mail.
6. Managing medications: Ability to obtain medications and taking them as directed.
7. Individuals are scored according to their highest level of functioning in that category. A summary score ranges from 0 (low function, dependent) to 8 (high function, independent).
8. The scale is an easy to administer assessment instrument that provides self-reported information about functional skills necessary to live in the community. Specific deficits identified can assist nurses and other disciplines in planning for safe discharge. However, the evaluation is self-administered, not an actual demonstration of the functional task. This may lead either to overestimation or under-estimation of the ability to perform the activity.