Yielding to Age: When the Elderly Can No Longer Drive

Journal of Gerontological NursingPublished 1 November 1990

Linda Gillins

DOI10.3928/0098-9134-19901101-05

Source URL

Citations27

SJR quartileQ2

SJR score0.41

SNIP0.39

TL;DR

Resolution of the loss of the ability to drive depends on the family's and individual's ability to work through the grieving process, concurrent losses, cognitive abilities, and the availability of resources.

Abstract

Loss of ability to drive because of declining health is a symbolic and concrete representation that the person is no longer capable of performing as he or she once did. Grieving the loss of the ability to drive is complex in that driving is associated with many interactions, such as freedom, esteem, identity, and control. Families may be reluctant to address the ability to drive safely because of fear of confrontation and their own grieving at the loss it symbolizes. Resolution of the loss of the ability to drive depends on the family's and individual's ability to work through the grieving process, concurrent losses, cognitive abilities, and the availability of resources.

Keywords

PsychologyMedicineHealth Professions

PubMedOn death and dying.

4,940 Citations1975Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Patient Counselling and Health EducationLiving with the characterologically, altered brain injured patient

410 Citations1980Muriel D. Lezak

Counselling family members can improve the quality of their adjustment and their care of the patient and help the family readjust expectations, providing practical management advice, and alerting family members to their own needs.

Annals of NeurologyMotor vehicle crashes in dementia of the alzheimer type

290 Citations1988Robert P. Friedland, Elisabeth Koss +5 more

The occurrence of driving crashes in patients with DAT is an important public health problem, and the occurrence of crashes was not significantly correlated with dementia severity or with disease duration.

Journal of GerontologyLoneliness in the Swedish Aged

159 Citations1981Stéphanie M. van den Berg, Dan Mellström +2 more

The most important factors related to the feeling of loneliness were the loss of spouse, depression of mood and lack of friends, and the lonely had a negative self-assessment of health and consumed more out-patient care, social welfare help and sedatives.

The GerontologistDiscriminators of Loneliness Among the Rural Elderly: Implications for Intervention

85 Citations1979Vira R. Kivett

Death StudiesLoss and adaptation: Circumstances, contingencies, and consequences

26 Citations1985Jeanne Quint Benoliel

Educational GerontologyNEEDS AND PROBLEMS OF OLDER DRIVERS AND PEDESTRIANS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY WITH TEACHING/LEARNING IMPLICATIONS

19 Citations1984Darlene J. Winter

The demographics related to drivers and pedestrians 55 years and over are reviewed, identifying and addressing their special traffic problems and needs.

AJN American Journal of NursingA Lost Life-Style

2 Citations1978Edith Louise Kowalsky

Because Brian's condition is so unstable, the authors feel the need to leave an itinerary of where they can be reached at all times-even the grocery store, and the possibility of lifelong debt is unnerving.