Driving Simulator Training to Improve Driving Performance in Veteran Stroke Patients
VA Office of Research and Development
Summary
One hundred Veteran stroke survivors will participate in both an Active Driver Training intervention and a Control intervention in a fully interactive driving simulator. In addition, all participants will complete pre- and post-intervention driving assessments in the driving simulator to measure driving performance and types of driving errors committed. Half the participants will receive the Active Driver Training first, whereas the other half will receive the Control intervention first. Each Active Driver Training session will provide targeted practice and feedback on each of four unique driving skills including: speed management, collision avoidance, lane positioning, and dashboard attention. The Control intervention will be matched for total time but will only provide extra familiarization with the operation of the driving simulator, with no skill-specific practice. It is predicted that the Active Driver Training Intervention will result in improved driving performance, relative to the Control condition. In addition, after a delay period of at least 6 months, all participants will be re-assessed in the driving simulator and will complete a survey to capture changes in driving status.
Description
In this study, 100 Veteran stroke survivors (half with left hemisphere stroke and half with right hemisphere stroke) will engage in both an Active and a Control simulated driving intervention. The order of interventions (Active first vs. Control first) will be randomly assigned. Each driving intervention will include weekly training for 3 consecutive weeks, followed by a post-intervention driving assessment. After a 1-week delay, participants will complete the other intervention type (for 3 consecutive weeks) followed by another post-intervention driving assessment. Last, all participants wil…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 40–80 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * U.S. Veterans * History of a unilateral stroke (at least 3 months post-onset) * Ages 40-80 * pre-morbidly right hand dominant * prior driving experience/U.S. driver's license Exclusion Criteria: * History of other neurologic illness (e.g., TBI, dementia, epilepsy, Parkinson's, etc.) * History of severe psychiatric illness (e.g., schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders) * Recent substance abuse/dependence disorder (\< 1 year) * Non-Veteran status
Interventions
- BehavioralActive Driver Training Intervention
simulated driver training focusing on practice of 4 specific driving skills including lane positioning, speed management, collision avoidance, and dashboard attention
- BehavioralControl Intervention
pre-scripted familiarization with driving simulator controls in the absence of any complex driving scenarios, decision making requirements, or feedback pertaining to driving skills
Location
- VA Northern California Health Care System, Mather, CASacramento, California