Occupational therapy – driver off-road assessment battery: Italian translation, cultural adaptation, and pilot testing in adults with neurological conditions

Background: Neurological conditions can affect driving ability, and there is an urgent need for valid and reliable tools to recommend fitness to drive to licensing authorities for this population. The Occupational Therapy–Driver Off-Road Assessment (OT-DORA) Battery is a comprehensive, valid, reliable, user-friendly, and time efficient tool for this purpose. Aim: Describe the Italian translation and cultural adaptation of the OT-DORA Battery and present pilot test data following COSMIN guidelines. Methods: The OT-DORA Battery was translated to Italian using international guidelines, and data were gathered from 35 patients and 29 health professionals. Construct validation was undertaken and intra and inter-rater reliability coefficients were calculated using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Results: The translated OT-DORA Battery-Italian (I) demonstrated positive and statistically significant Pearson’s correlation coefficients between cognitive, perceptual, behavioral, physical, and sensory skills ( r from 0.4 to 0.6, p < 0.05). Most ICCs for inter and intrarater test–retest reliability were over 0.77. Conclusions: Although preliminary evidence supports the OT-DORA Battery-I, further studies with larger populations need to continue to demonstrate the validity and reliability of the Battery to predict fitness to drive among adults with neurological conditions. Significance: Clinicians in Italy can proceed to use the translated OT-DORA Battery with caution.