TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - Use of a driving simulator to improve on-road driving performance and cognition in persons with Parkinson's disease: a pilot study
JO  - Australian occupational therapy journal
A1  - Devos, Hannes
A1  - Morgan, John C.
A1  - Onyeamaechi, Arinze
A1  - Bogle, Craig A.
A1  - Holton, Katie
A1  - Kruse, Jonathon
A1  - Sasser, Sierra
A1  - Akinwuntan, Abiodun E.
SP  - 408
EP  - 414
VL  - 63
IS  - 6
N2  - BACKGROUND/AIM: The use of simulators as an assessment and intervention tool for driving is an emerging field in occupational therapy. We investigated the potential usefulness of a driving simulator to improve on-road skills and cognitive functions in drivers with Parkinson's disease (PD). <br><br>METHOD: Fifteen participants with PD, and Hoehn and Yahr stages between 2 and 3 participated in this pre-post comparison study. Twelve of the 15 individuals (median age (Q1-Q3), 68 (63.5-72.5); 10 men) completed 10 hours of training in a high-fidelity driving simulator. A practical road test as well as off-road cognitive and simulator tests were administered at pre-training and post-training. <br><br>RESULTS: Nine participants, who passed the road test before training, passed at post-training. Furthermore, all three participants who initially failed the on-road test passed after training. Participants' performance improved significantly from pre- to post-training on two cognitive tests: (i) the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and (ii) Dot Cancellation test. <br><br>CONCLUSION: This pilot study demonstrates the potential usefulness of a simulator to improve on-road driving and driving-related cognitive skills in PD. Adequately powered randomized controlled trials are needed to further expand this field of study.<br><br>© 2016 Occupational Therapy Australia.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0045-0766
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12263
ID  - ref1
ER  -