Dickerson, Anne EDenny, Meagan2024-01-162023-122023-12-04December 2http://hdl.handle.net/10342/13267Rationale: As a complex IADL, driving is essential for social participation and quality of life. As such, it should be addressed by occupational therapy practitioners. Visual processing speed is a critical component of driving ability. Advanced age and medical conditions impact visual processing speed, therefore affecting driving risk. Although assessments of visual processing speed are limited, it can be isolated as a discrete ability when using a tool such as the Vision CoachTM. Purpose: This research examined visual processing speed reaction times between medically-at-risk drivers and healthy controls with the purpose of determining its relationship with the outcomes of a comprehensive driving evaluation. Three research questions were specifically targeted: (1) is there a statistically significant difference of reaction times on the Vision CoachTM between the age groups of the healthy controls, (2) is there a statistically significant difference in visual processing speed reaction times across age groups between the healthy controls and medically-at-risk, (3) does the Vision CoachTM demonstrate adequate sensitivity and specificity to predict driving fitness outcomes? Design: Data collection consisted of a comprehensive driving evaluation including an on-road component for medically-at-risk adults with a fitness to drive outcome designated as “pass” or “fail.” The Vision CoachTM Full Field 60 task collected visual processing speed reaction times of the medically-at-risk adults as well as healthy controls to compare between the two groups, between age groups, and determine predictability between driving fitness outcome. Results: One-factor ANOVA showed a significant (p < .001) difference in visual processing speed reaction times between all age groups of the healthy controls. Two-factor ANOVA showed a significant (p < .001) difference between age groups of the healthy controls and medically-at-risk as well as between the two groups as whole. Using the default cut point of 0.5, a logistic regression model determined the Vision CoachTM accurately predicted 86.4 percent of the driving fitness outcomes. The AUC was significant (p = .001) at .905 for outstanding diagnostic performance. Conclusion: Results of this study show that medical risk for driving impacts visual processing speed reaction times, regardless of age. The Vision CoachTM is a reliable and valid tool to assess and improve this discrete ability and can be used by generalists and specialists to help determine driving fitness.application/pdfenVisual processing speedDriving fitnessComprehensive driving evaluationVisual processing reaction timeVision CoachMaster's Thesis2024-01-11