Abstract
OBJECTIVE. To begin to address the shortage of driving rehabilitation and community mobility programs to meet the community mobility needs of older adults and clients with rehabilitative needs, we sought to identify the key barriers to developing and sustaining such programs.
METHOD. We used a survey design to solicit input from a nationally representative sample of occupational therapy practitioners, rehabilitation managers, and health care administrators.
RESULTS. The 2,869 completed surveys revealed widespread and largely contextual barriers related to fiscal support, infrastructure, physical environment, and institutional culture. The barriers were highly correlated with each other and did not differ across regions, practitioner experience levels, or facility types.
CONCLUSION. This study was an important preliminary step in constructing a resource toolkit with strategies to overcome the identified barriers to developing and sustaining driving and community mobility programs that meet the needs of older adults and clients with rehabilitative needs. This toolkit, which is available on the American Occupational Therapy Association’s Web site, is a necessary resource for use in all practice settings to meet the driving and community mobility needs of this population in support of engagement in community-based occupations.
