These were the direct questions posed by Sherrie Buckley, from St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, in a session on the current knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and practice of occupational therapists in Northern Ireland when it comes to driving and depression.
There are around 322 million people worldwide with depression, she pointed out. Depression itself can impact on driving ability, in terms of attention, for example, while medication can have severe side effects and vehicular suicide ideation is often under reported.
Her own research looked to investigate what Irish occupational therapists are doing when it comes to looking at the issue of driving and depression with their clients. It indicated that: around 30 per cent of respondents referred people to another profession; 35 per cent did provide some driving-related advice; six per cent viewed assessment as only an issue for those with a physical/cognitive disability; 28 per cent offered no advice or intervention; and eight per cent said the role was better suited to occupational therapists in physical disability not mental health.
She added that almost all respondents thought further education and training was needed.
She said that rather than determining if somebody is fit to drive, occupational therapists should be ‘starting to have the conversation’ about fitness to drive.
‘Conversations are not really happening,’ she exclaimed. ‘Why is driving overlooked? Occupational therapists should do this, but we are not doing it, and when we do, we are inclined to refer to others.’
She concluded: ’We need to be more proactive in considering driving. We need to know the driving status of the people we work with and we need to start talking and offering advice, or another profession will come along and start doing it for us.’