Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

In Canada, the older population is growing and living longer, thereby engaging in activities of daily living for a greater number of years. Older adults often continue to drive until an accident alerts authorities and family that the safety of the driver, and the general population, may be compromised. Older drivers are more likely to be involved in an accident and compared to younger adults, are more likely to die in a crash or experience lengthier recovery processes, thereby incuring greater health care costs to themselves and to the system. Canadian physicians' reported that they do not believe they are the most qualified to assess fitness to drive, particularly as related to cognitive function. It may be that there are other health care proffessionals who are better able to assess an older adult whose cognitive abilities are declining. Psychologists may be one such group involved in the assessments of older adults with cognitive impairments. This research examins attitudes and practices of psychologist across canada and will further help us understand the issue of aging and mobility. Determining how psychologists perceive the issues may be useful for the development of educational programs (for older adults, the population, and psychologists), and assist in the creation of standardized applications for assessment. This may ultimately lead to decreased risk for older adults being involved in crashes thereby, resulting in lower levels of personal injury, decreasing health care costs, individual health-strain, and ultimately saving lives.