Identifier

etd-1113102-202122

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Driving is an important part of daily life in our society. Neurocognitive deficits acquired from a head injury can affect driving ability. Determining when it is safe for a person recovering from a head injury to return to the road can often be difficult. With the risk involved in an on-the-road driving evaluation, effective measures are needed to determine when patients are ready to be evaluated. Some neuropsychological measures have shown promise in this area. The Useful Field of View (UFOV) is one test that has been used successfully with older drivers to predict accident risk. Research has also been conducted examining the ability of the UFOV to predict the driving ability of patients recovering from traumatic brain injury (TBI). The ability of the UFOV to predict accident risk in samples of both non-injured and head-injured college students was examined. The UFOV was unable to predict crash involvement in the either the TBI or non-impaired subject group. The relationship of the UFOV with a number of neuropsychological measures was also explored. Possible implications of the findings and future directions are discussed.

Date

2002

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Johnny L. Matson

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.1646

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Psychology Commons

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