Development of a simple driving simulator and determination of the reference range of normative performance

Abstract

ABSTRACTObjective: To establish the reference range for assessment items of the ‘Simple Driving Simulator’ (SiDS) in a normative population and to compare performance of age-matched young adults with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) to this reference data.Methods and procedures: Normative ranges were calculated from the data of 445 participants in the control group. Three performance ranges were established: ‘normal’, ‘borderline’ and ‘impaired’ defined using standard deviation cutoff values in the control group. The performance of 28 patients with a TBI, aged 18–35 years, was evaluated. The performance score for the TBI group in the ‘impaired range’ was calculated for each test item and used to make a synthetic judgment regarding the clinical value of the SiDS.Main outcomes and results: In the control group, only 0.6% of the participants exhibited a performance in the impaired range on >2 items, compared to 33.2% for the TBI group.Conclusions: We provide evidence that impaired performance on ≤2 items of the SiDS provides a sensitive criterion of ‘driving fitness’ in young adults after a TBI.