Article
Neurocognitive Disorder Diagnoses Matter: A Brief Report on Caregiver Appraisal of Driving Ability.
Journal of Applied Gerontology
(2018)
Abstract
Background: Age-associated neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) are associated with progressive loss of abilities for instrumental activities of daily living, including driving. This study assesses the impact of NCD diagnosis, while controlling for reported level of cognitive impairment, on family caregiver judgment of driving safety. Method: An intervention sample of 152 intergenerational caregivers who assist an older adult with medical tasks was used. Caregiver’s pre-intervention response to a single item of confidence in the older adult driving was used to determine judgment of driving ability. Cognitive impairment was assessed using caregivers’ report for Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) Sum of Boxes score. Results: Older adults with a diagnosis were rated as less capable of driving safely than those without a diagnosis, while controlling for reported level of cognitive impairment. Conclusion: Results of this study highlight the importance of NCD diagnosis on caregiver judgments. Results of this study have implications for health care and driving safety.
Keywords
- measurement,
- cognitive function,
- function/functional status,
- activities of daily living (ADL),
- dementia,
- alzheimer disease
Disciplines
Publication Date
October 3, 2018
DOI
10.1177/0733464818803006
Citation Information
Nicholas E. Schmidt and Ann M. Steffen. "Neurocognitive Disorder Diagnoses Matter: A Brief Report on Caregiver Appraisal of Driving Ability." Journal of Applied Gerontology (2018) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ann-steffen/53/