A novel driving coach app for older adults with cognitive impairment

Minnesota Healthsolutions Corporation, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of the proposed project is to develop an app for older adult drivers that combines feedback based on actual driving behavior with a dynamic and escalating modality of personal feedback and coaching designed for persons with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Alzheimer’s disease related dementias (ADRD), or cognitive impairment. This app will be specifically designed and tested for older adult drivers with AD, ADRD, or cognitive impairment. This is critical as this product will extend older adult driver’s mobility for as long as possible, while keeping themselves and other road users safe. Driving is essential for the preservation of functional independence for older adults, yet there is a growing body of evidence that older adult drivers with cognitive impairment have a higher crash risk relative to older adult drivers who are not cognitively impaired. Older adult drivers are already overrepresented in motor vehicle crash deaths and injuries. The project team is uniquely suited to successfully carry out this research due to our unique combination of skills and abilities, which includes a history of developing products for older adults, including the use of telematics and driving data in applications, research using driving apps and coaching drivers, and research in AD and ADRD, including cognition-driving studies.