On-road driving remediation following acquired brain injury: a randomized controlled trial

• Published in: Brain injury 2024-11, Vol.38 (13), p.1-1124
• Main Authors: Bassingthwaighte, Louise, Gustafsson, Louise, Molineux, Matthew, Bell, Ryan, Pinzon Perez, William, Shah, Darshan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0269-9052; 1362-301X; 1362-301X
• DOI: 10.1080/02699052.2024.2376763

To investigate the relationship between on-road driving remediation and achieving fitness to drive following acquired brain injury. Randomized controlled trial. Tertiary hospital outpatient driver assessment and rehabilitation service, Australia. Thirty-five participants (54.3% male), aged 18-65 years, 41 days-20 years post-acquired brain injury (including stroke, aneurysm, traumatic brain injury) recommended for on-road driving remediation following occupational therapy driver assessment were randomly assigned to intervention (  = 18) and waitlist control (  = 17) groups. Intervention group received on-road driving remediation delivered by a qualified driving instructor in a dual-control vehicle. The waitlist control group completed a 6 week period of no driving-related remediation. Fitness to drive rated following the conduct of an on-road occupational therapy driver assessment with a qualified driving instructor where outcome assessors were blinded to group allocation. The intervention group were significantly more likely to achieve a fit to drive recommendation than no driving specific intervention (  = 0.003). Following comprehensive assessment, individualized on-road driving remediation programs devised by an occupational therapist with advanced training in driver assessment and rehabilitation and delivered by a qualified driving instructor are significantly associated with achieving fitness to drive after acquired brain injury.