AUTHOR=Alvarez Liliana , Classen Sherrilene , Medhizadah Shabnam 

TITLE=Clinical Utility of the DriveFocus™ Intervention on Young Drivers With and Without Experience

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2019.00123

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2019.00123

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Introduction:</bold> The DriveFocus™ intervention addresses the ability of young drivers to detect and respond to critical roadway information. DriveFocus is an interactive video-based tablet application that teaches users how to detect and prioritize critical roadway items. However, young drivers with and without experience may respond differently to the intervention.</p><p><bold>Objectives:</bold> We compared the simulated driving performance of two 17 year-old licensed drivers with (novice) and without (learner) driving experience, after three (post-test 1) and six (post-test 2) intervention sessions.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> We collected clinical, driving performance (number of visual scanning, adjustment to stimuli, and total driving errors) and acceptability data.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> The learner driver made more visual scanning, adjustment to stimuli and total errors when compared to the novice. Both participants exhibited a decrease in both types and number of driving errors from baseline to post-test 2 and the learner also made less driving errors at post-test 1. Both participants rated the perceived ease of use of the intervention favorably.</p><p><bold>Conclusions</bold>: This study lays the foundation to examine the impact of the DriveFocus™ intervention among novice and more experienced young drivers.</p>