Skills-Training Program Beneficial for Teen Drivers With ADHD

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 30, 2022 (HealthDay News) — A computerized skills-training program designed to reduce long glances away from the road is beneficial for teenagers with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a study published online Nov. 30 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Jeffery N. Epstein, Ph.D., from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and colleagues examined a computerized skills-training program designed to reduce long glances (lasting ≥2 seconds) away from the road in 16- to 19-year-old drivers with ADHD. Participants were randomly assigned to undergo either enhanced Focused Concentration and Attention Learning (intervention) or enhanced conventional driver’s education (control) in a 1:1 ratio.

The researchers found that during simulated driving after training, participants in the intervention and control groups had a mean of 16.5 and 28.0 long glances per drive, respectively, at one month and 15.7 and 27.0 long glances per drive, respectively, at six months (incidence rate ratios, 0.64 and 0.64, respectively). At one and six months, the standard deviation of lane position was 0.98 and 0.98, respectively, in the intervention group versus 1.20 and 1.20, respectively, in the control groups. During the year after the intervention, the rate of long glances per g-force event was 18.3 and 23.9 percent in the intervention and control groups, respectively, during real-world driving, and the rate of collision or near-collision per g-force event was 3.4 and 5.6 percent, respectively (relative risks, 0.76 and 0.60, respectively).

“The effects of training were observed during real-world driving, which suggests that the teens with ADHD in our trial were able to carry over trained skills to real-life settings,” the authors write.

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