Beyond personal factors: How external factors are associated with readiness for mobility transition in older drivers

Introduction Many older adults are unprepared for driving cessation, but mobility transition counseling may help to alleviate this. But to be most beneficial, this process should be tailored to the individual. The Assessment of Readiness for Mobility Transition (ARMT) tool offers potential to guide this process. While previous work has demonstrated that personal factors contribute to ARMT scores, external factors have yet to be explored. Methods A series of hierarchical regressions explored how external factors (such as availability of alternate transportation or speaking to a doctor about driving) contribute to ARMT-16 scores. Demographic, physical, cognitive, personality and attitudinal variables were included first (Model 1), and external variables were then added (Model 2). Results Model 1 explained 47.6% of variance in overall ARMT-16 scores. Explained variance rose to 51.1% in Model 2, marking a statistically significant change (Δ R 2 = 0.045, Δ F (6, 257) = 4.16, p = .001). Within Model 2, those with limited availability of friends and family to provide rides demonstrated average ARMT scores 0.22 points higher (reflecting lower readiness) than those who always had this option (95% CI = 0.046, 0.400) while those living in a multi-person household had average scores that were 0.20 lower than those who lived alone (95% CI = −0.349, −0.042). At the domain level, the addition of external factors was associated with anticipatory anxiety and perceived burden. Conclusions Readiness for driving cessation is associated with internal and external factors unique to the individual. Recognizing this is important to the development of successful transition plans.