Effects of Upper Extremity Immobilization and Use of a Spinner Knob on Vehicle Steering.

Background: A person's ability to safely drive while immobilized is not well defined. Steering ability with a spinner knob during immobilization is unknown. The goal of this study is to further clarify the effect of immobilization on steering reaction time and accuracy with and without a steering wheel spinner knob.

The Design, Prototyping, and Formative Evaluation of an Assistive Robotic Table (ART) for Stroke Patients.

Objective: This article presents the results of an exploratory study in which 14 healthcare subject matter experts (H-SMEs) in addition to four research and design subject matter experts (RD-SMEs) at a regional rehabilitation hospital engaged in a series of complementary, participatory activities in order to design an assistive robotic table (ART).

Background: As designers, human factor experts, and healthcare professionals continue to work to integrate assistive human-robot technologies in healthcare, it is imperative to understand how the technology affects patient care from clinicians' perspectives.

Method: Fourteen clinical H-SMEs rated a subset of conceptual ART design ideas; participated in the iterative design process of ART; and evaluated a final cardboard prototype, the rehabilitation hospital's current over-the-bed table (OBT), an ART built with true materials, and two therapy surface prototypes.

An Exploration of the Nightstand and Over-the-Bed Table in an Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital.

Objective: This study seeks to determine where patients in a rehabilitation hospital keep the greatest percentage of their belongings, that is, in/on the nightstand or on the over-the-bed table.

Background: This study provides an inventory of patient items located on the over-the-bed table and in/on the nightstand. Understanding the functions of furnishings within the patient room is key for future preparation for designing a next-generation over-the-bed table or for redesigning a more useful nightstand.

Confirming, Classifying, and Prioritizing Needed Over-the-Bed Table Improvements via Methodological Triangulation.

Objective: This article presents the results of a qualitative study that confirmed, classified, and prioritized user needs for the design of a more useful, usable, and actively assistive over-the-bed table.

Background: Manganelli et al. (2014) generated a list of 74 needs for use in developing an actively assistive over-the-bed table.

The reliability of a VISION COACH task as a measure of psychomotor skills.

The VISION COACH™ interactive light board is designed to test and enhance participants' psychomotor skills. The primary goal of this study was to examine the test-retest reliability of the Full Field 120 VISION COACH task. One hundred eleven male and 131 female adult participants completed six trials where they responded to 120 randomly distributed lights displayed on the VISION COACH interactive light board.

Understanding the needs of hand control users, driver rehabilitation specialists, and dealers/installers.

Understanding unique perspectives from key stakeholder groups involved in the hand control (HC) industry, including driver rehabilitation specialists (DRSs) who train users how to use their HCs, dealers/installers, and users, may become increasingly important in the United States due to increases in elderly, diabetic, and wounded warrior amputee driving populations. In this exploratory study, phone interviews were conducted with 20 DRSs, 20 dealers/installers, and 20 users regarding their perspectives about HC training, maintenance and operation, and design improvements. Results revealed common views and differences in perspectives about whether HC users should receive training and for how long, when and how often users should receive maintenance on their HCs, and what DRSs, dealers/installers, and users would like to see in the future.

Evaluation of four steering wheels to determine driver hand placement in a static environment.

While much research exists on occupant packaging both proprietary and in the literature, more detailed research regarding user preferences for subjective ratings of steering wheel designs is sparse in published literature. This study aimed to explore the driver interactions with production steering wheels in four vehicles by using anthropometric data, driver hand placement, and driver grip design preferences for Generation-Y and Baby Boomers. In this study, participants selected their preferred grip diameter, responded to a series of questions about the steering wheel grip as they sat in four vehicles, and rank ordered their preferred grip design.

Examination of How and Why Over-the-Bed Tables Are Used: Use Cases and Needs from Healthcare Providers.

Objective: This article presents the results of an exploratory study in which 14 clinical and staff subject matter experts (SMEs) at a regional rehabilitation hospital were interviewed in order to understand how and why over-the-bed tables are used.

Background: It is important to understand how and why a device or environment is used when designing it, and not just what features and functions are preferred. This knowledge is valuable both for contextualizing user feature and function preferences and for characterizing and prioritizing design challenges and opportunities.

Developing a driving simulator based functional object detection task.

The purpose of this study was to validate a driving simulator-based tool for assessing functional visual scanning while driving (Goodenough, 2010) by replicating a previous study and assessing whether the results of the task are moderated by strategic decisions regarding task prioritization. Participants completed a functional object detection task that includes a peripheral target detection task and a central braking response task. Results indicated that the simulator task can identify differences in older and younger participants' abilities to functionally scan the driving environment and these differences appear unaffected by prioritizing either the scanning or braking task.

Examination of overbed tables: healthcare provider and user preferences.

Objective: This exploratory study examined the preferences of healthcare providers and patients with respect to overbed table features and functions, as well as how the devices tend to be used.

Background: In order to improve the design of overbed tables, it is important to understand which features and functions of existing models are valued by healthcare providers and patients.

Methods: A sample of overbed table models was presented to volunteers, who were asked to choose which models' implementation of specific features and functions they preferred.

Group differences in preferences for a novel nightstand.

Objective: Multiple user groups (patients and employees at a rehabilitation facility, community-dwelling seniors, and university students) participated in a study that examined their preferences for the features and functions of three novel nightstand prototypes.

Background: It is valuable to get input from different user groups in order to improve furniture usefulness and usability, especially furniture prevalent in clinical settings where users of all age groups are found.

Methods: Feedback was obtained from different user groups in both clinical (rehabilitation facility) and nonclinical (university) settings.

Pedestrians' estimates of their own visibility: a simple and effective computer-based technique.

Introduction: Research has shown that both pedestrians and drivers drastically overestimate pedestrians' nighttime visibility (NHSTSA, 2008a, 2008b; Owens & Sivak, 1996) and fail to appreciate the safety benefits of proven conspicuity aids. One solution is educational intervention (Tyrrell, Patton, & Brooks, 2004); however, the on-road assessment of its effectiveness is expensive and time consuming.

Method: Experiment One introduces a computer-based alternative to the field-based approach, successfully replicating the previous study's trends among 94 students who either receive or do not receive an educational lecture.

Certified driver rehabilitation specialists' preferred situations for driving simulator scenarios.

The use of driving simulators is increasing in clinical settings that provide driving evaluation and rehabilitation. To identify the driving simulator scenarios desired by certified driving rehabilitation specialists (CDRSs), we developed a questionnaire consisting of 22 driving scenario situations. A total of 164 CDRSs rated each situation in terms of its importance for inclusion in simulator-based driving.

Seniors' and physicians' attitudes toward using driving simulators in clinical settings.

ABSTRACT Interactive driving simulators may offer a safe and controlled environment for occupational therapists to treat clients with conditions that affect their ability to drive safely. The use of simulators has been mostly limited to research settings. To make appropriate use of this technology, identifying and understanding the needs of clients and medical personnel that simulators can fulfill is important.

Physician knowledge, assessment, and reporting of older driver fitness.

ABSTRACT Physicians have the potential to serve as an important portal for information gathering, assessment, counseling, and reporting older driver fitness, as almost all older adults require medical care and have a primary care physician. However, there are few studies that have evaluated physician knowledge about, attitudes toward, and performance of older driver fitness assessment. Two pilot studies were conducted to assess physician knowledge and attitudes and aid understanding of physician knowledge of legal reporting requirements regarding older driver medical fitness.

Toward a "smart" nightstand prototype: an examination of nightstand table contents and preferences.

Objective: Two studies were conducted to obtain an understanding of the types of items seniors keep in their nightstands and to understand how users feel about the possibility of "smart" furniture.

Background: To enable aging in place and universal design, it is vital to understand the needs of a broad range of aging individuals, especially since there is little research on nightstand usage and design.

Methods: Study 1 allowed for the development of a structured inventory of nightstand use today in assisted living and rehabilitation facilities.

Speed choice and driving performance in simulated foggy conditions.

Driving in fog is a potentially dangerous activity that has been investigated in a number of different ways; however, most have focused on identifying the underlying perceptual changes that result in an inability to perceive speed of vehicle motion. Although the previous research has identified the perceptual changes associated with driving in fog and shows that people are highly likely to perceive their speed to be higher than it actually is, these research studies have not investigated driving behavior when drivers are allowed to maintain speed as they feel appropriate and make use of the vehicle's speedometer. In addition, much of the existing research focuses on speed perception and presents a limited view of other driving performance metrics in terms of lane keeping and event detection.

Simulator sickness during driving simulation studies.

While driving simulators are a valuable tool for assessing multiple dimensions of driving performance under relatively safe conditions, researchers and practitioners must be prepared for participants that suffer from simulator sickness. This paper describes multiple theories of motion sickness and presents a method for assessing and reacting to simulator sickness symptoms. Results showed that this method identified individuals who were unable to complete a driving simulator study due to simulator sickness with greater than 90% accuracy and that older participants had a greater likelihood of simulator sickness than younger participants.

Highlighting human form and motion information enhances the conspicuity of pedestrians at night.

Exploring how biological motion can make pedestrians more conspicuous to drivers at night, one-hundred-and-twenty participants were driven along an open-road route at night and pressed a button whenever they recognized that a pedestrian was present. A test pedestrian wearing black clothing alone or with 302 cm2 of retroreflective markings in one of four configurations either stood still or walked in place on an unilluminated sidewalk. Participants' response distances were maximal for the full biological-motion configuration and remained surprisingly long when convenient subsets of reflective markers were positioned on the pedestrian's ankles and wrists.

Radiation dose, driving performance, and cognitive function in patients with head and neck cancer.

Seven head and neck cancer patients participated in a driving evaluation in a driving simulator. Radiation dose on the temporal lobes was moderately associated with time to complete a cognitive test and with driving performance. Results indicated that incidental irradiation may contribute to a decrease in cognition and in unsafe driving performance, which seems to be time-dependent.

The effects of severe visual challenges on steering performance in visually healthy young drivers.

Purpose: Two experiments explored the extent to which induced blur, reduced luminance, and reduced visual fields affect drivers' steering performance in a driving simulator.

Methods: In experiment 1, ten young participants (M = 21.2 years) drove at approximately 89 km/h (55 mph) along a curvy roadway while being exposed to blur (0 to + 10 D), luminance (0.

Educational interventions successfully reduce pedestrians' overestimates of their own nighttime visibility.

Pedestrians dramatically overestimate their own visibility at night. This is likely to result in pedestrians unknowingly engaging in dangerous behavior. To determine the extent to which pedestrians' estimates of their own visibility are influenced by educational interventions, clothing reflectance, and headlamp beam setting, participants in 2 experiments estimated their own nighttime visibility by walking toward a stationary car to the point where they believed they were just recognizable as a pedestrian.