Enhancing Emotion Regulation during Driving in OEF/OIF Veterans
Abstract
The proposed project aimed to develop and test a method for enhancing emotion regulation and reducing operator-related risk during civilian driving in OEF/OIF returnees with driving-related distress. Execution involved three main components. The first was the development of a system for objectively measuring on-road driving behavior and concurrent autonomic and visual attentional control. The second was the development of a cognitive-behavioral intervention combining breathing retraining and cognitive reappraisal. The third was the execution of a formative trial with Veterans complaining of driving related distress. As a guarantee of disseminability, all components needed to compatible with on-road driving assessments currently performed by driving rehabilitation specialists at VA Palo Alto Health Care System. A portable, low-cost, user-friendly driving measurement system was developed in collaboration with Fujitsu Laboratories of America who provided substantial engineering assistance gratis. A preliminary intervention designed to reduce autonomic arousal during driving was found to achieve the expected effects on autonomic arousal in the car. The trial was executed with partial success, participant recruitment proving to be more difficult than anticipated based on prior contacts with recruitment sources. A proposal (LOI) has been submitted to extend this work to Veterans with TBI. A proposal is planned to develop a mobile-app-based tele-heath version of the approach intended to overcome barriers to research recruitment, and later, treatment delivery, such as limited time and rurality.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA591437
Entities
People
- Steven H Woodward
Organizations
- Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research