1-30-09
Older Driver Rehabilitation Research: Call for Participants
AOTA, the MIT AgeLab, and The Hartford are teaming up to learn more about older adults’ experiences with driving assessments and driver rehabilitation. As the population ages and lives longer, the number of older drivers on the road is expected to balloon in the coming decades. Driving evaluations and driver rehabilitation for older adults may be an important tool to keep older drivers safely on the road longer, in addition to providing a ‘staying well checkup’ for older adults. Our project is designed to learn more about the role that driver evaluations can play for older adults and their families including serving as a well-elder checkup, being a resource to help families with a loved one with dementia, and helping an individual transition from driver to passenger. To that end, we are looking for people who might be willing to participate in our research study.
- We are planning to conduct telephone interviews with older adults ages 50 and older who have worked with an occupational therapists (OT) with either a Certified Driver Rehabilitation Specialist (CDRS) certification or a Driving and Community Mobility Specialty certification and completed a driving evaluation that included both a clinical and on-road assessment.
- We are also planning to do two focus groups with OTs who have either the CDRS certification or Driving and Community Mobility Specialty certification at the AOTA’s Annual Conference & Expo in Houston, TX, in April 2009.
- We will compensate interview participants and OT focus group participants for their time.
If you have any clients who have completed a driving assessment and might be willing to take part in an hour-long telephone interview, or if you are an OT who does driving assessments and might be interested in taking part in one of our focus groups at the AOTA Conference & Expo, please contact Dr. Lisa D'Ambrosio at MIT, toll-free at 1-866-326-0752, or at
dambrosi@mit.edu.
Click here for a flyer that describes the project to interested clients who may be eligible for the study.