Aging and human performance

Optimization of the seat position for a personal vehicle equipped with a crankset: pilot study

The aim of the study was to optimize the seat for a personal vehicle equipped with a crankset mechanism, meant for everyday use. The inclination of the seat backrest was selected on the basis of theoretical considerations. Then dynamic tests were carried out on a group of young, healthy men in order to verify the ergonomic aspects of the seat position in relation to the crankset and determine the efficiency of the human-mechanism system with a load of 50 W. The data obtained from the dynamic tests were subject to statistical analysis. Research has shown that higher seat positions result in statistically higher efficiencies. In addition, a holistic analysis of the personal vehicle design problem shows that the upper position of the seat is also the best. The results of the research can be used to optimize personal vehicles using human force as a drive.

Older Drivers' Attitudes and Preferences about Instrument Cluster Designs in Vehicles Revealed by the Dashboard Questionnaire

Background

Older drivers are a rapidly growing demographic group worldwide; many have visual processing impairments. Little is known about their preferences about vehicle instrument cluster design.

Methods

We evaluated the psychometric properties of a questionnaire on "dashboard" design for a population-based sample of 1000 older drivers. Topics included gauges, knobs/switches, and interior lighting; items were statements about their visual design. Response options used a Likert-scale ("Definitely True" to "Definitely False"). Factor and Rasch analyses identified underlying subscales.

Results

Driver responses revealed four thematic subscales fitting the Rasch model: cognitive processing, lighting, pattern recognition, and obstructions. Internal consistency of subscales was acceptable (0.70-0.87); all possessed a sufficiently unidimensional structure. Opportunities for improvement were identified (item scope, category ordering, discrimination of respondents' perception levels).

Conclusions

Assessment of motor vehicle dashboard preferences indicated cognitive processing, lighting, pattern recognition, and obstructions are areas relevant to older drivers. Future work will examine the relationship between older drivers' visual function (e.g., contrast sensitivity, visual processing speed) and their design preferences as revealed by the Dashboard Questionnaire, with the aim to optimize instrument cluster displays for older drivers.

Information assistance systems as preventive mediators between increasing customization and mental workload

BACKGROUND: The future of work in Germany is shaped by megatrends like globalization, automatization, digitization, and the demographic change. Furthermore, mass customization and the increasing usage of AI even in manual assembly offers new opportunities as well as it creates new challenges. OBJECTIVE: The trend towards mass customization in turn leads to increased complexity in production, which results in additional mental workload. This effect will continue in the foreseeable future. METHOD: Especially for small and medium sized companies, the backbone of Germany’s economy, automatization and Human-Robot-Collaboration will take time to develop. Information assistance systems are and will be a bridging technology to help organizations to manage increasing complexity and the mental workload of their employees to not only boost productivity but also keep their workforce healthy. The ongoing demographic change further underlines the need to use information assistance systems to compensate possible age-associated deficits, but also keep older employees committed to their work and avoid effects of disengagement or disenfranchisement through participatory ergonomics. RESULTS: Information assistance systems can only develop their inherent potential if they are designed to support employees of varying age, competence levels, and affinity for technology. Participatory development and early engagement are key factors for an increased acceptance and usage of the systems as well as the individualization to make it suitable for each individual employee. CONCLUSION: Expanding the functionalities to an adaptive assistance system, using physiological correlates of mental workload as an input, is conceivable in the future.

Functional brain changes associated with cognitive training in healthy older adults: A preliminary ALE meta-analysis

Accumulating evidence suggests that cognitive training (CT) programs may provide healthy older adults (OAs) with cognitive benefits that are accompanied by alterations in neural activity. The current review offers the first quantitative synthesis of the available literature on the neural effects of CT in healthy aging. It was hypothesized that OAs would evidence increased and decreased neural activations across various challenging CTs, and that these effects would be observed as significantly altered clusters within regions of the frontoparietal network (FPN). Online databases and reference lists were searched to identify peer-reviewed publications that reported assessment of neural changes associated with CT programs in healthy OAs. Among the 2097 candidate studies identified, 14 studies with a total of 238 participants met inclusionary criteria. GingerALE software was used to quantify neural effects in a whole-brain analysis. The activation likelihood estimation technique revealed significant increases in activation following CT in the left hemisphere middle frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus, and posterior parietal cortex, extending to the superior occipital gyrus. Two clusters of diminished neural activity following CT were identified within the right hemisphere middle frontal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus, extending to the superior temporal gyrus. These results provide preliminary evidence of common neural effects of different CT interventions within regions of the FPN. Findings may inform future investigations of neuroplasticity across the lifespan, including clinical applications of CT, such as assessing treatment outcomes.

Influencing factors of early cognitive deficits after ambulatory anesthesia

Background:

Anesthesia has an influence on early postoperative cognitive function. This is specifically relevant in ambulatory surgery. At discharge, patients must return to their normal life and manage simple tasks. Goal was to detect influencing factors of early postoperative cognitive dysfunction after ambulatory anesthesia.

Methods:

With approval of the local ethics committee, 102 individuals scheduled for ambulatory anesthesia were examined with a specific test battery. Cued and uncued reaction time, divided and selective attention were tested prior to anesthesia and at the time of discharge. Differences between the two examinations and potential influencing factors including age, premedication, type and duration of anesthesia were evaluated with the Student t-test and linear regression. P < 0.05 considered significant.

Results:

In all, 86 individuals completed the study. Both reaction times were reduced after anesthesia compared to before. No differences were seen for divided and selective attention. Age influenced on the post-anesthesia reaction time while all other factors did not.

Conclusion:

Reaction time but not attention as more complex cognitive function is influenced by anesthesia. Age seems to be an important factor in early postoperative cognitive dysfunction.

Contributing Factors Affecting the Severity of Metro Escalator Injuries in the Guangzhou Metro, China

Urban rail transit has become one of the indispensable modes of public transportation in large cities. Escalators are ubiquitous in metro stations, as passengers typically use escalators when entering or leaving a metro station. Thus, escalators have become an accident-prone location. To develop suitable prevention strategies, it is necessary to understand the risk factors that affect the severity of escalator accidents. This study analyzed 967 escalator passenger accidents that occurred in the Guangzhou Metro from 2013 to 2015. The Haddon matrix was used to evaluate the interaction of humans, escalators, and environmental factors before, during, and after accidents. Then, the contributing factors associated with the severity levels were determined based on chi-square tests. Passengers aged 66 years and older are more vulnerable to serious injuries (p < 0.001), and previous health conditions are significantly related to the severity of the passenger’s injuries (p = 0.002). The weather conditions (rainy days) are also significantly related to the severity of escalator accident injuries (p = 0.039), and injured people with head injuries are at greater risk of being severely injured (p < 0.001). The analysis results of these risk factors can provide theoretical support for the metro operators to develop reasonable and effective preventive measures to reduce the escalator risk.

Considerations for physical employment standards in the aging workforce

BACKGROUND

If current population and health trends continue, workplace demographics will look significantly different by the turn of the century. Organizations will no longer have a steady pipeline of younger workers and will likely need to rely on older workers to remain competitive in the global marketplace. The future multi-generational workforce will bring with it the challenge of maximizing contributions from each generation whilst at the same time addressing the health, safety and wellbeing needs of all workers.

OBJECTIVE

This review provides an insight into aging and older workers, and presents recommendations to promote worker longevity.

METHODS

This narrative review draws on evidence from 108 published sources.

RESULTS

The relationship between age and work is not simple; factors including the physical nature of the job and worker's health and fitness interact with age to either increase or decrease the potential effect of age. Evidence suggests that the issues arising from an aging workforce can be managed through polices that focus on active aging through: attitude management; flexible working and the provision of occupational health.

CONCLUSION

The integration of such interventions would require company and organizational commitment from the top down with educational programs at all levels to ensure understanding and participation.

Neurocompensatory Effects of the Default Network in Older Adults

The hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults (HAROLD) is a neurocompensatory process that has been observed across several cognitive functions but has not yet been examined in relation to task-induced relative deactivations of the default mode network. The present study investigated the presence of HAROLD effects specific to neural activations and deactivations using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) n-back paradigm. It was hypothesized that HAROLD effects would be identified in relative activations and deactivations during the paradigm, and that they would be associated with better 2-back performance. Forty-five older adults (M age = 63.8; range = 53-83) were administered a verbal n-back paradigm during fMRI. For each participant, the volume of brain response was summarized by left and right frontal regions of interest, and laterality indices (LI; i.e., left/right) were calculated to assess HAROLD effects. Group level results indicated that age was significantly and negatively correlated with LI (i.e., reduced left lateralization) for deactivations, but positively correlated with LI (i.e., increased left lateralization) for activations. The relationship between age and LI for deactivation was significantly moderated by performance level, revealing a stronger relationship between age and LI at higher levels of 2-back performance. Findings suggest that older adults may employ neurocompensatory processes specific to deactivations, and task-independent processes may be particularly sensitive to age-related neurocompensation.

From Intervention to Co-constitution: New Directions in Theorizing about Aging and Technology

We propose directions for future research on aging and technology to address fundamental changes in the experience of later life that come with the "digitization" of societies. Our argument is contextualized by the massive investments of policy makers and companies in gerontechnologies and their failure to create scale and impact. Partly this failure is due to an interventionist logic that positions new technologies as interventions or solutions to the problems of aging. What has been overlooked - at least theoretically - is how aging is already co-constituted by gerontechnology design, the socio-material practices it enacts, and the policy discourse around them. Goals are (a) reviewing elements of the current aging and technology agenda, (b) demonstrating how the interventionist logic has hampered theory development (and practical impact), (c) pulling together key insights from the emerging body of empirical literature at the intersection of social gerontology and Science and Technology Studies (STS), with the objective of (d) providing directions for future research on aging and technology. Our argument presents the theoretical gains that can be made by combining insights from STS and social gerontology to research the co-constitution of aging and technology.

Towards an Ecological Perspective on Age–Performance Relations

Abstract. The layperson’s view associates aging with biological and cognitive losses, which could be associated with decrements in work productivity and overall contributions to society. In turn, ecological approaches to life span development suggest that successful performance can result from an adaptive employment of an individual’s physical, cognitive, or social capital in the appropriate environment. This ecological framework suggests that one must understand the demands of particular ecologies (i.e., niches) to predict whether aging is associated with failure, maintenance, or even improvements in performance. We provide examples that illustrate the importance of an ecological approach to understanding adaptation to challenging decision tasks both in the laboratory and in the wild. Overall, we propose that there are specific strategies and niches that can help older adults thrive and that more work is needed to understand the exact characteristics that lead to good performance in old age.

Work Ability Index as tool to identify workers at risk of premature work exit

PURPOSE

To investigate the Work Ability Index (WAI) as tool for identifying workers at risk of premature work exit in terms of disability pension, unemployment, or early retirement.

METHODS

Prospective cohort study of 11,537 male construction workers (mean age 45.5 years), who completed the WAI at baseline and reported their work status (employed, unemployed, disability pension, or retired) after mean 2.3 years of follow-up. Associations between WAI scores and work status were investigated by multinomial logistic regression analysis. The ability of the WAI to discriminate between workers at high and low risk of premature work exit was analyzed by the area (AUC) under the receiver operating characteristic curve.

RESULTS

9,530 (83 %) construction workers had complete data for analysis. At follow-up, 336 (4 %) workers reported disability pension, 125 (1 %) unemployment, and 255 (3 %) retirement. WAI scores were prospectively associated with the risk of disability pension at follow-up, but not with the risk of unemployment and early retirement. The WAI showed fair discrimination to identify workers at risk of disability pension [AUC = 0.74; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.70-0.77]. The discriminative ability decreased with age from AUC = 0.78 in workers aged 30-39 years to AUC = 0.69 in workers ≥50 years of age. Discrimination failed for unemployment (AUC = 0.51; 95 % CI 0.47-0.55) and early retirement (AUC = 0.58; 95 % CI 0.53-0.61).

CONCLUSIONS

The WAI can be used to identify construction workers <50 years of age at increased risk of disability pension and invite them for preventive interventions.

Keeping up! Older workers' adaptation in the workplace after age 55

How do older workers keep up and adapt to a changing workplace after age 55? In exploring that question, this study specifically examined how age-related changes affect workers, how older workers deal with a loss of resources, how they engage in life management, and why some are more successful than others. An in-depth analysis was undertaken using 32 semi-structured interviews conducted with workers aged 55 to 64. Findings revealed that older workers use various strategies to adapt to a change in resources, and that these strategies help them cope and maintain their functioning in the workplace. Because older workers require different types of employer support, this study offers an understanding of how employers can provide that support to encourage older workers to remain in the workforce longer. Several avenues for future research are suggested, including an exploration of the role played by internal sources of support.

Physical activity interventions among older adults: a literature review

Physical activity (PA) is important in the management of chronic illness among older adults worldwide. Researchers have conducted several intervention studies to increase PA behavior in this population. This review of the past 12 years of relevant PA intervention research among adults aged 60 years and older systematically summarized research findings, identified characteristics of successful interventions, and proposed areas of future research. There were 20 studies reviewed for this article, most employing a combination of cognitive-behavioral intervention design. Cognitive-based only and combination interventions were more successful in changing PA behavior; however, behavioral-based interventions demonstrated more long-term changes in PA behavior. Among theory-based interventions, self-efficacy was the most commonly operationalized construct. Findings from this review may inform future primary research to promote PA behavior among older adults, as well as gerontological clinical practice.

Personnel's health surveillance at work: effect of age, body mass index, and shift work on mental workload and work ability index

INTRODUCTION

Two great changes in developed countries are taking place: populations are ageing and becoming increasingly overweight. Combination of these factors with shift work is a risk factor for work ability and mental workload that are dynamic processes which change greatly throughout an individual's work life. The aim of this study was to investigate mental workload and work ability in textile workers and to identify factors which affect work ability and mental workload.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was carried out among 194 male workers in textile industry. Employees based on their job group and work conditions have been divided into 6 categories. They completed work ability index and mental workload questionnaires during three work shifts. Body mass index (BMI) and demographic details were recorded.

RESULTS

All of the participants rated their work ability as moderate with high mental workload. The mean WAI and mental workload in age group were significant. The mean BMI was 25.5 kg/m(2) (standard deviation 4.1) and the mean age was 40.22 years. There was a statistically significant correlation between work ability index and shift work.

CONCLUSIONS

Unlike the previous study, a decrease point in WAI started in early age that may be due to life-style work and another psychological factor; on the other hand, NASA-TLX revealed high score in six subscales that can be another reason for low WAI.

Medical attendance for lower urinary tract symptoms is associated with subsequent increased risk of outpatient visits and hospitalizations based on a nationwide population-based database

Introduction

Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), which encompass storage, voiding, and postmicturition symptoms, are highly prevalent and recognized globally. Based on a nationwide population-based database, this study tests the hypothesis that medical attendance for LUTS is associated with a subsequent increase in the number of outpatient visits and hospitalizations, with differences among medical specialties and age groups.

Methods

Participants were selected from a random population sample of approximately one million people as a representative cohort of National Health Insurance (NHI) enrollees in Taiwan. Participants had at least three outpatient service claims with a coding of LUTS during the recruitment period 2001–2004. Both the LUTS group and non-LUTS control group were monitored for subsequent outpatient visits and hospitalizations, excluding LUTS-related healthcare services, for 2 years following the index date. The results were categorized based on medical specialty and age group.

Results

The outpatient visit rates (no. per person-year) and adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRRs) (95% confidence interval (CI) were significantly higher in urology (4.51, 95%CI 4.15–4.91) and gynecology (1.82, 95%CI 1.76–1.89) for the LUTS group. They were also significantly high in other departments, including internal medicine (1.25), general practice (1.13), Chinese medicine (1.77), family medicine (1.19), surgery (1.38), and psychiatry (1.98). Similarly, the hospitalization rate (no. per 1000 person-year) and adjusted IRRs (95% CI) were significantly higher in urology (5.50, 95% CI = 4.60–6.50) and gynecology (1.60, 95% CI = 1.35–1.90), as well as in internal medicine (1.55) and surgery (1.56), but not in psychiatry (1.12). Furthermore, the IRRs differed among 3 age groups.

Conclusions

A significantly higher number of outpatient visits and hospitalizations were observed for individuals with LUTS, compared to the control group, and the effects differed with the advancement of age. This study broadens understanding of LUTS by viewing their impact on healthcare services with multiple and overlapping systems, rather than considering them exclusively as symptoms of traditional diseases of the bladder and urethra.

Investigation of the performance of trackpoint and touchpads with varied right and left buttons function locations

This study investigates the relationships of the following 5 factors with commonly-used task patterns: 4 (2 existing and 2 newly-designed) built-in cursor input devices of notebook PCs, usage experiences, genders, sensitivity of cursor movements, and 5 tasks of input applications (including click, drag-drop, click-select, select-drag-drop, and type-select-click). This experiment reveals that there are significant differences among these factors in the operating times and/or error rates of particular tasks. Although somewhat influenced by the task patterns, the results show that the touchpad with the cursor-tracking pad located on the bottom-center and the right and left buttons on the bottom-left beneath the keyboard, which avoids ulnar and radial deviation and hindrance of text-entry-pointer-manipulation switching, leads to higher performance and preference, while the trackpoint leads to lower performance and preference. In addition, the touchpads with sensitivity values of 10 and 12 for cursor movement are preferred over those with the value of 8.

Methodological challenges in physical activity research with older adults

The aging adult population is growing, as well as the incidence of chronic illness among older adults. Physical activity (PA) has been demonstrated in the literature to be a beneficial component of self-management for chronic illnesses commonly found in the older adult population. Health sciences research seeks to develop new knowledge, practices, and policies that may benefit older adults' management of chronic illness and quality of life. However, research with the older adult population, though beneficial, includes potential methodological challenges specific to this age group. This article discusses common methodological issues in research among older adults, with a focus on PA intervention studies. Awareness and understanding of these issues may facilitate future development of research studies devoted to the aging adult population, through appropriate modification and tailoring of sampling techniques, intervention development, and data measures and collection.

Healthcare-seeking prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms among national health insurance enrollees in Taiwan, 2000-2009

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the healthcare-seeking prevalence of those with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) among National Health Insurance enrollees in Taiwan.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Data from the National Health Insurance Research Database were obtained from a random population sample of about one million as a representative cohort from 2000 to 2009. Subjects aged≥18 years with ≥1 outpatient service claim and coding for a LUTS-related diagnosis were identified and analyzed annually.

RESULTS

The healthcare-seeking prevalence for LUTS increased from 23.11‰ in 2000 to 38.37‰ in 2009. Similar trends were found for storage symptoms and voiding symptoms (P<.0001). In 2009, the age distribution of LUTS was 4.32%, 5.82%, 10.92%, 19.23%, 21.25%, and 38.47% in those aged 18-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and ≥70 years, respectively. The overall LUTS prevalence was more common in men (54.45‰) than in women (21.73‰). For LUTS subtypes, storage symptoms were more common in women (19.46‰) than in men (13.13‰); however, the trend was reversed in the population>60 years old. Voiding and mixed symptoms were more common in men (4.69‰, and 0.83‰, respectively) than in women (2.80‰ and 0.58‰, respectively).

CONCLUSION

In the present cohort study, patients with LUTS seeking medical help increased annually from 2000 to 2009 in Taiwan. The occurrence of LUTS subtypes varied according to age and sex. LUTS is becoming a substantial healthcare burden as the number of aged people who want to maintain a good quality of life increases.

[Virtual reality for clinical assessment of elderly people: early screening for dementia]

Today, there are 24.3 million people suffering from dementia worldwide, that is a new case every 7 seconds (Ferri et al., 2005) and more than 80 million cases expected in 2040. Aging-related morbidity is a real social problem making screening a major challenge. Currently, screening and diagnostic tools for dementia remain independent from each other, screening tools being non-specific and diagnostic tools non-naturalistic. With the technological possibilities offered by virtual reality, it is becoming easier to investigate cognition and behavior in elderly people. Virtual reality allows a better understanding and assessment, and perhaps could stimulate cognitive functioning of elderly people. Combining measurements of cognitive impairment and disability might help close the gap between structural and naturalistic validity.

Older drivers' attitudes about instrument cluster designs in vehicles

Little is known about older drivers' preferences and attitudes about instrumentation design in vehicles. Yet visual processing impairments are common among older adults and could impact their ability to interface with a vehicle's dashboard. The purpose of this study is to obtain information from them about this topic, using focus groups and content analysis methodology. A trained facilitator led 8 focus groups of older adults. Discussion was stimulated by an outline relevant to dashboard interfaces, audiotaped, and transcribed. Using multi-step content analysis, a trained coder placed comments into thematic categories and coded comments as positive, negative, or neutral in meaning. Comments were coded into these categories: gauges, knobs/switches, interior lighting, color, lettering, symbols, location, entertainment, GPS, cost, uniformity, and getting information. Comments on gauges and knobs/switches represented half the comments. Women made more comments about getting information; men made more comments about uniformity. Positive and negative comments were made in each category; individual differences in preferences were broad. The results of this study will be used to guide the design of a population-based survey of older drivers about instrument cluster format, which will also examine how their responses are related to their visual processing capabilities.

Age and BMI interact to determine work ability in seafarers

BACKGROUND

Seafaring is known to be a demanding occupation but the implications of ageing in seafarers are poorly understood.

AIMS

To investigate task demands and work ability in merchant seamen at sea and to identify factors predicting work ability.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study carried out on a single vessel during a summer deployment. Instantaneous heart rate (HR) was recorded at 5-s intervals during representative 8-h shifts in 41 merchant seamen. Participants completed the work ability index and also rated their daily task demands using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and demographic details were recorded.

RESULTS

Work demands were found to be moderate according to both HR data and TLX scores. The mean BMI was 27.5 kg/m(2) (standard deviation 3.3) and the mean age was 47 years. The majority of participants rated their work ability as 'good' to 'excellent'. The best predictor of work ability was the interaction between BMI and age, whereas there was a statistically significant negative correlation between HR and age.

CONCLUSIONS

Work ability in this group of seafarers was found to be high and the work was shown to be moderately demanding, on average. Although work ability declined with age and with BMI independently, the best predictor of work ability was the interaction between BMI and age, with increased BMI having a deleterious effect on work ability in older employees doing moderately demanding work.

Vision and driving

Driving is the primary means of personal travel in many countries and relies heavily on vision for its successful execution. Research over the past few decades has addressed the role of vision in driver safety (motor vehicle collision involvement) and in driver performance (both on-road and using interactive simulators in the laboratory). Here we critically review what is currently known about the role of various aspects of visual function in driving. We also discuss translational research issues on vision screening for licensure and re-licensure and rehabilitation of visually impaired persons who want to drive.

Remembrance of Things Future: Prospective Memory in Laboratory, Workplace, and Everyday Settings

Prospective memory involves remembering—and sometimes forgetting—to perform tasks that must be deferred. This chapter summarizes and provides a perspective on research and theory in this new and rapidly growing field. I explore the limits of existing experimental paradigms, which fail to capture some critical aspects of performance outside of laboratory settings, and review the relatively few studies in workplace and everyday settings. I suggest countermeasures to reduce vulnerability to forgetting to perform deferred tasks, identify roles for human factors practitioners, and propose a research agenda that would extend the current understanding of prospective memory performance.

Toward a psychological science of advanced technology design for older adults

OBJECTIVES

Technology represents advances in knowledge that change the way humans perform tasks. Ideally, technology will make the task easier, more efficient, safer, or perhaps more pleasurable. Unfortunately, new technologies can sometimes make a task more difficult, slower, dangerous, or perhaps more frustrating. Older adults interact with a variety of technologies in the course of their daily activities and thus products should be designed to be used by people of varying ages.

METHODS

In this article, we provide an overview of what psychology has to offer to the design of technology-from understanding what people need, to identifying their preferences for design characteristics, and to defining their capabilities and limitations that will influence technology interactions.

RESULTS

We identify how research in the field of psychology and aging has advanced understanding of technology interactions and how research on technology interactions can inform theories of aging.

DISCUSSION

Design for aging involves understanding the unique capabilities and limitations of older adults; identifying their needs, preferences, and desires for technology in their lives; and involving them in the design process.

Older and Younger Drivers' Beliefs about Motor Vehicle Features to Benefit Their Safe Driving

Because there are age-related perceptual, motor, and cognitive declines and because people are living longer, there has been increased concern about older drivers' ability to operate motor vehicles safely. This research examined older and younger adults' perceptions regarding a set of 28 motor vehicle features/aspects according to the extent to which they believed it may help their safe driving. Several features were judged as more important than others regarding safe driving. Although both age groups predominately gave similar evaluations, some features/aspects differed significantly between the two age groups. Older adults believed that vehicle door openings should be easier to get into and out of, preferred analog displays, and labels on the dashboard that were bigger and brighter, and held less strong beliefs that current vehicle controls and displays are easy to use than did younger adults. Implications and design recommendations are discussed. A list of vehicle features that are potentially beneficial to older drivers is presented.

Worker impairment: issues beyond alcohol or drugs

PROBLEM

One of my older colleague's work is steadily declining, and sometimes her judgment seems "off," and she is easily distracted. Alcohol and drugs are most certainly not the problem nor is this a disability that is protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act, requiring accommodation. I want to help, but I'm not sure what to do. Any suggestions?

SOLUTION

Deteriorating performance often is associated with difficulty with perception, memory, task perseverance, and reasoning skills-in other words, cognitive impairment. It's observant of you to note that alcohol/drugs are not an issue. Most people associate declining performance with alcohol or drug abuse for good reason; more often than not, employee assistance programs (EAPs) find alcoholism and drug abuse when employees are referred to them, and in fact, EAPs were initially developed with alcohol-related problems in mind. EAPs now offer help in many more situations, including situations like this.