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Predicting driving ability using DriveSafe and DriveAware in people with cognitive impairments: a replication study
Ashleigh Hines1, Anita C Bundy
1Discipline of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Background/Aim:
Previously developed cut-off scores for off-road assessments, DriveSafe and DriveAware, were applied to data from a new sample. Our aim was to determine whether results from previous research are replicable in a different population, to further investigate the psychometric properties of the tools.
Methods:
Using a retrospective cohort design, we analysed data from DriveSafe and DriveAware gathered in three driving centres in Sydney (N = 90). We calculated sensitivity and specificity of DriveSafe and DriveAware data for predicting results of on-road testing.
Results:
Sensitivity and specificity for this study were very similar to those documented previously. The lower cut-off produced specificity of 96%, identical to previous calculations. The upper cut-off score yielded sensitivity of 91% compared with 93% previously. When scores from DriveSafe and DriveAware were trichotomised (i.e. 'pass,' 'fail,' and 'requires on-road testing'), they predicted on-road performance of about half of drivers with ≥ 90% accuracy.
Conclusion:
Findings will add to the body of evidence suggesting that not all drivers referred to occupational therapy driving assessors require expensive, time-consuming and potentially high risk on-road assessments.
