Aging and Health Among the Senior Population Essay

Aging and Health Among the Senior Population - Essay Example These items were reviewed individually and then summed up as a total to establish an assessment about the driver. The covariates of the study were age, gender, race, health status, physical functioning, vision and driving exposure. Driving exposure was calculated by the DHQ assessment, among other things. Further covariates were self-filled by the drivers. The sample included participants from an ongoing Senior Driver Research Project, which was designed to examine the validity and reliability of the OFOV test. There was collaboration with State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, and licensed drivers aged 75 and above who live in Alabama were chosen. The potential participants were contacted via a letter, were given a toll-free number to return to, and those who had agreed to participate were met by trained staff at 11 designated locations. There they were tested in the UFOV and performed satisfactorily in the test and were eligible for the study. A total number of 1,543 people participated, their mean age was 79.73. 41.7% were women, 2.7% were non-Caucasian. The University of Alabama approved all the procedures, and participants signed on consent to the study (Ozioma, Okonkwo, Virginia & Karlene, 2008). The study found that drivers of over 75 avoided driving in bad weather more than they avoided any other type of situation. Other avoidance situations were driving at night, at traffic roads, in unfamiliar territories and making left-hand turns. Another important find of this study was that drivers with higher risks for motor vehicle accidents due to deficits in visual attention reported greater avoidance relative to those who had a lower risk of being involved in car crashes. This was fairly the same in all the situations (Ozioma, Okonkwo, Virginia & Karlene, 2008).. These findings were consistent with previous ones,