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Dr. Sherrilene Classen was a panelist, along with other engineers, researchers, economists, and government officials, to provide a realistic outlook on the current state of driverless cars.

Funding received from the Paralyzed Veterans of America to elucidate the perceptions of adults living with a spinal cord injury and/or disease (SCI/D) as it relates to autonomous (i.e., self-driving) vehicles.

Book chapter found in Best Practices for Occupational Therapy in Schools.

Book chapter found in Willard and Spackman’s Occupational Therapy, Thirteenth Edition.

To enable family members or friends, in the USA and Canada, to detect at-risk older drivers, Dr. Classen and colleagues, developed and tested the Fitness-to-Drive Screening Measure (FTDS), a user friendly on-line tool http://fitnesstodrive.phhp.ufl.edu/. Family members, caregivers, or friends who had driven with the driver in the last three months, may rate the drivers’ difficulties by completing 54 screening questions. After completing the questions a keyform, or rating profile, of each driver is produced which includes a classification of the driver into one of three categories: at-risk driver, routine driver, or accomplished driver. Based on the specific driver category, recommendations-- the logical next steps for family members, friends or clinicians-- are suggested for each driver. These recommendations entail guidelines for continued fitness to drive, seeking interventions, or starting conversations about stopping driving. The FTDS has been translated into Japanese and Korean with demonstrated psychometric support for the Korean version. A shorter version has been developed (32 items) with excellent predictive validity of fitness to drive outcomes. This course will discuss each of these core activities and apply content information to an actual case study.

The University of Florida International Center honored a College of Public Health and Health Professions faculty member and several graduate students during International Education Week, held November 12 to 16. Shabnam Medhizadah, a doctoral student in the rehabilitation science program who hails from Canada, was awarded with a certificate of excellence.

To address the need for affordable and accessible transportation, the Florida’s Department of Transportation (FDOT) Safety Office awarded the Institute for Mobility, Activity, and Participation at the University of Florida a grant which provides an alternative transportation database, and an interactive mapping website, for identifying transportation solutions for aging road users.

Under the leadership of Dr. Sherrilene Classen and Dr. Sandra Winter, and in collaboration with the University of Florida T-2 center, the Department of Occupational Therapy has received a Florida Department of Transportation grant to develop a computer based-training (CBT) program for teens.

This course starts by providing a background of crash statistics for the U.S and introduce the concept of crash risk and crash risk reduction. Next, we provide an overview of terminology that is used in the driving literature, specifically related to driving outcomes. The audience is further exposed to a breadth of evidence-based methods and tools to help asses an individual’s fitness to drive. These assessments include the Comprehensive Driving Evaluation, which can be subdivided in clinical assessments, driving simulator assessments, and the on-road assessment. Dr. Classen is synopsizing the factual content in this course from almost two decades of exposure to empirical evidence and best practices –all packaged to enable clinicians to practice from an evidence-based perspective.

Post-Doctoral Associate View full CV Publications Google Scholar Profile Research Gate Profile Contact justinmason@phhp.ufl.edu (352) 273-6146 Biography Dr. Justin Mason is a Post-Doctoral Associate in the Department of Occupational Therapy in the…