Inter-rater reliability of the Nottingham Neurological Driving Assessment for people with dementia – a preliminary evaluation

Objective:The purpose was to examine the inter-rater reliability of the Nottingham Neurological Driving Assessment.Participants:Six drivers with dementia (mean age 78 years, 5 men).Interventions:Participants were assessed for their safety to drive on a set route while being observed by two driving assessors, who were experienced in assessing safety to drive in people with dementia.Main measures:Performance was rated in terms of overall safety to drive and 25 items were recorded as correct, minor error (not compromising safety) and major error (compromising safety).Results:Four drivers were found to be probably safe to drive and two definitely unsafe to drive. There was perfect agreement in the overall decisions about safety to drive. There were significant discrepancies between correct or minor error and major error on six of the 25 items of the road test involving three participants.Conclusions:Two experienced driving assessors agreed on the overall safety to drive of six participants with dementia. Ther...