Abstract

FERREIRA, Inês Saraiva  and  SIMOES, Mário Rodrigues. Contribution of the psychological assessment in the clinical examination of drivers with neurological and psychiatric disease: Theoretical review. Rev. Port. Sau. Pub. [online]. 2015, vol.33, n.1, pp.57-70. ISSN 0870-9025.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rpsp.2014.03.003.

Background Drivers with neurological or psychiatric disease may have cognitive and behavioral deficits likely to reduce the ability to drive a car. Considerable research and publications has shown the utility of instruments and psychological assessment protocols to predict the performance on driving activity. Objective To document empirical data regarding to psychological test predictors of driving activity in people with neurological or psychiatric disorders, and contribute to the awareness of medical professionals about the usefulness of a differentiated psychological assessment in the clinical examination of drivers. Methods Literature search in scientific databases (B-On, EBSCO, ISI Web of Knowledge, OvidSP, ProQuest, WileyBlackwell), in a time period between 2000 and July of 2013. Were considered specific search terms and covering medical conditions such as traumatic brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, depression, schizophrenia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Results Research data confirms the validity of instruments and psychological assessment protocols, particularly of cognitive nature, in identifying cases with impaired driving ability and increased risk of crashes. Cognitive domains such as visuo-perceptual, visuospatial, visual attention, executive functions, but also the processing speed and working memory, are documented systematically as determinants of driving ability. Discussion and conclusions A specialized psychological assessment may constitute a decisive contribution in the clinical examination of drivers, allowing collecting relevant elements to the process of decision making and justification of the clinical judgment of fit or unfitting to drive. With the purpose of increasing the accuracy of the assessments and support the clinical judgments by experts, it is recommended an articulation of results between medical assessment and psychological assessment for driving.

Keywords : Psychological assessment; Cognitive tests; Automobile driving; Fitness to drive; Neurological disease; Psychiatric disease.

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