Citation

Classen S, Levy C, Meyer DL, Bewernitz M, Lanford DN, Mann WC. Am. J. Occup. Ther. 2011; 65(4): 419-427.

Affiliation

Institute for Mobility, Activity, and Participation, and Associate Professor, Occupational Therapy Department, University of Florida, PO Box 100164, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA. sclassen@phhp.ufl.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, American Occupational Therapy Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

21834457

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: We determined differences in driving errors between combat veterans with mild traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress disorder and healthy control participants. METHOD: We compared 18 post-deployed combat veterans with 20 control participants on driving errors in a driving simulator. RESULTS: Combat veterans were more likely to be male; were younger; and had more racial diversity, less formal education, and lower cognitive scores than control participants. Control participants made more signaling errors (t [19] = -2.138, p = .046, SE = 0.395), but combat veterans made more over-speeding (t [17.3] = 4.095, p = .001, SE = 0.708) and adjustment-to-stimuli (t [17] = 2.380, p = .029, SE = 0.140) errors. Young age was related to over-speeding. CONCLUSION: Combat veterans made more critical driving errors than did control participants. Such errors made on the road may lead to crashes or injuries. Although limited in generalizability, these findings provide early support for developing safe driving interventions for combat veterans.

Language: en