Effect of two different occupational therapy interventions on elderly drivers with mild cognitive impairment on driving skills-randomized controlled study

Torpil, B., The Effectiveness of Two Different Occupational Therapy Interventions for Elderly Drivers with Mild Cognitive Impairment on Driving Skills-A Randomized Controlled Study. Hacettepe University, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Occupational Therapy Program, PhD Thesis, Ankara, 2020. This study was planned to examine the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation intervention with driving simulation intervention on driving skills in elderly drivers with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). In our study, 34 elderly drivers with a diagnosis of MCI who applied to Hacettepe University Health Sciences Faculty Occupational Therapy Department Education and Research Units were included. 34 participants were divided into two groups with the simple randomization technique. After obtaining sociodemographic information about age, gender, educational status, driver's license year, accident status/number/type, driving status/how many times a week, LOTCA-G, Trail Making A-B, Maze Test, Alternating Foot Tap Test (AFTT) Driving skills were evaluated using the Driving Skills Inventory (DSI), Driving Behavior Scale (DBS) and a checklist created by using the literature on the simulation. After the evaluation, an intervention program consisting of 45-minute sessions, 2 days a week for 12 weeks was applied to both groups. After the Basic Traffic Training was given to both groups, driving skills were studied on the simulation in the simulation intervention group, and the cognitive intervention program determined according to the subtitles of LOTCA-G was applied in the cognitive rehabilitation intervention group. In the first evaluation, no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups (p> 0.05). After the interventions, it was determined that driving skills improved statistically significantly in both groups (p <0.05). LOTCA-G (orientation, visual-spatial perception, attention concentration), Trail Making Test A-B, Maze Test, AFTT and Ordinary Violations of DBS did not find any difference (p> 0.05). It was determined that cognitive rehabilitation (p <0.05) in other parameters in LOTCA-G, and simulation intervention in other parameters in DSI and DBS was more effective (p <0.05). It has been determined that these two interventions have positive effects on driver skills, and it has been determined that both interventions can be used in driver rehabilitation in the elderly with MCI.