Canadian Psychiatrists' Current Attitudes, Practices, and Knowledge regarding Fitness to Drive in Individuals with Mental Illness: A Cross-Canada Survey

Objectives:To assess current attitudes, practices, and knowledge of Canadian psychiatrists regarding fitness to drive in individuals with mental illness and to explore variations according to provincial legislation.Method:We carried out a national cross-sectional survey, using a random sample of psychiatrists. We used a mail survey to collect data.Results:In total, 248 psychiatrists participated; the response rate was 54.2% on traced subjects. The majority (64.1%) reported that they strongly agreed or agreed that addressing patients' fitness to drive is an important issue. However, only 18.0% of respondents were always aware of whether their patients were active drivers. One-fourth strongly agreed or agreed that they were confident in their ability to evaluate fitness to drive. In discretionary provinces, 29.3% of psychiatrists reported not knowing their provincial legislation, as did 14.6% of psychiatrists in mandatory provinces; of those responding, 54.0% from discretionary provinces and 2.8% from manda...