A stroke can cause physical and cognitive impairments such as lack of concentration, visual inattention and reasoning difficulties which may affect a drivers' ability to drive safely. The Stroke Drivers Screening Assessment (SDSA) has been developed by the University of Nottingham as a screening tool to identify drivers who are not fit to resume driving following a stroke. TRL and the University of Leeds were commissioned by the Department for Transport to investigate the current use of the SDSA in the UK and examine the validity and reliability of the screening tool. The project consisted of four studies: (1) survey of SDSA users establish the extent to which the SDSA is currently being used across the United Kingdom; consider the ease of its use; and investigate the advice given based on the results of the test; (2) An inter-rater reliability study to investigate whether different assessors reach the same outcome and whether the scoring procedure and the interpretation of the results are accurate and rigorous; (3) A test-retest reliability study to investigate whether a person tested on two separate occasions will obtain the same result and whether any possible learning effects resulting from repeated administration of the test are likely to lead to a change in the outcome (from fail to pass); (4)A validity study to investigate the criterion-related validity (predictive validity and concurrent validity) and face validity of the SDSA. The criterion used was performance in an on-road driving assessment. To gain an indication of concurrent validity the Visual Attention Analyser Useful Field of View (UFOV) test was used as measure. This report describes the findings from these studies. (Author/publisher)
Abstract