Development and Evaluation of a Brief UFOV Measure

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ability to identify older drivers at risk for either crash involvement or driving cessation has clear societal and health care benefits. Despite technological advances in automotive safety, older adults who are involved in vehicle crashes are more prone to suffer injury or death, and their recovery from injury is much longer. On the other hand, mobility is critical for maintaining social contacts, independent functioning, health, and a satisfying quality of life. Effective methods for extending safe mobility for older adults through early detection of skills impairments followed by intervention could have far reaching impact as more and more adults achieve advanced ages in coming decades. There is abundant evidence now, from many published and replicated studies, that a measure of complex speed of processing, the UFOV(r) test has adequate sensitivity and specificity to identify high-risk older drivers. However, this test is too cumbersome for screening on a mass basis. The focus of the present application is to evaluate the feasibility of developing a very brief (2-3 minute), self-administered screening version of the UFOV(r) test that could be widely used for early detection of high-risk older drivers.