In the driving cessation decision seat: Testing the feasibility and acceptability of a UK adapted driving decision aid for older adults within Surrey Community Mental Health Team services
Start date
06 January 2025End date
31 December 2026Overview
Deciding when to stop driving can be one of the most difficult and emotional decisions faced by people living with dementia. With 6.1 million UK drivers aged 70 or above, a number set to almost double by 2033, and one in 11 people over 65 living with dementia, the need for earlier, supported conversations about driving retirement has never been more urgent. Too often, these discussions only happen after a safety incident, leaving families and professionals unprepared.
The Dementia and Driving Decision Aid UK (DDDA UK) is the first structured, person-centred tool designed to help people living with dementia, their families, and clinicians make shared, timely decisions about driving cessation.
In this study, clinicians will introduce DDDA UK to 50 drivers aged 65 and above who are living with mild or moderate dementia, or mild cognitive impairment, during routine appointments. Using a mixed‑methods design, we’ll assess its impact on decisional conflict, driving self-efficacy, and quality of life, as well as how the tool works in both clinic and home settings.
This research will generate practical guidance for embedding driving‑retirement planning into dementia care pathways and shaping future road‑safety policy. We invite professionals across dementia care and road safety to consider how DDDA UK could be scaled nationally to support safer roads and more empowered ageing.
This research will generate actionable insights for embedding driving retirement planning into dementia care pathways and shaping future road safety policy.
Aims and objectives
- Map current post-diagnostic support within Surrey memory services related to driving assessment and retirement
- Explore the feasibility and acceptability of implementing DDDA UK in Surrey—an area with high dementia prevalence and elevated road accident rates.
Funding amount
£49,093
Funder
Team
Principal investigator
Dr Theopisti Chrysanthaki
Lecturer in Integrated Care/ehealth
Biography
Expert in e-health, telehealth/telecare, integrated care, long-term conditions, quality of life and ageing. Theti is an expert in implementation and evaluation studies of policy and technology innovations in healthcare. She worked at Imperial College London where she was involved in the evaluation of the biggest randomised controlled trial of remote care/assistive technology (telehealth/telecare) undertook worldwide, the Whole System Demonstrator Programme (WSD) and the North West London CLAHRC evaluation. She also worked at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) as a Healthcare Services and Policy Lecturer and as a study coordinator to a large evaluation DH funded project on the effectiveness of Memory Assessment Services in England for people with dementia and their carers (Using Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) to Improve Dementia Services: Evaluation of Memory Assessment Services). In collaboration with the team in Surrey, she is the PI of a project that explores the design and acceptability of using a digital story-based communication system for care home settings (TiME Matters UK Project see: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/digital-world-research-centre/funded-projects/time-matters ) and she is the Process Evaluation Lead of a large UK RCT study that investigates the effectiveness of an Internet of Things (IoT) integrated assistive technology solution (telehealthcare) to support people with dementia and their carers to live independently at home (TIHM for Dementia Test Bed Project see: https://www.sabp.nhs.uk/tihm). She is still a visiting fellow at Imperial College London and continues to search, consult and co-ordinate large policy initiatives for government, applying social psychological and organizational theories to healthcare adoption and innovation processes.
Co-investigator
Professor Emma Ream
Professor, Director of Health Sciences Research
Biography
Emma Ream is a Professor of Supportive Cancer Care and Director of Health Sciences Research. She is a Registered Nurse with a research career spanning 30 years. She qualified in 1990 having undertaken a BSc in Nursing with Economics at St Bartholomew's Hospital in conjunction with City University, London. She worked in general and oncology nursing before moving into academia at King's College London. She was awarded her MSc in Nursing from King's College London (1995) and later her doctorate (2002) for her work developing and evaluating an intervention for cancer-related fatigue.
Emma held various research and teaching posts at King's College London before being conferred the title Professor of Supportive Cancer Care in 2009. At King's College London she led the Supportive Cancer Care Research Group and provided strategic leadership in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery for cancer and palliative nursing education and research.
She moved to the University of Surrey in 2015 to take up position as Director of Health Sciences Research. Her research interests include symptom trajectories during and following cancer treatment, digital health, cancer in pregnancy, support needs of families when a parent has cancer that can't be cured, and cancer inequalities.
Project Manager
Dr Sarah Combes
Research Fellow
Biography
Sarah Combes is a clinical academic nurse specialising in palliative and end of life care for older people living with advancing frailty, dementia, and multiple long-term conditions. She holds dual roles as a Research Fellow at the University of Surrey and NIHR Senior Research Leader: Nursing and Midwifery at St Christopher’s Hospice.
With a background in leadership, change management, and education across sectors, Sarah brings a systems-level perspective to translational research. Her focuses is on decision-making and workforce development to support people nearing the end of life.
Prior to moving to Surrey, Sarah's was awarded a prestigious HEE/NIHR Clinical Doctoral Research Fellow which she completed at King’s College London. Her PhD focused on developing a behaviour change intervention to support health and social care professionals to better instigate and support advance care planning with older people living with advancing frailty. Sarah continues this work through What matters most? A study using co-production methodologies to support meaningful conversations with older people in the last phase of life. Sarah is also the Research Fellow on In the Driving Cessation Decision Seat, a study testing the feasibility and acceptability of a driving decision aid for people with dementia within UK memory services.
Sarah’s previous studies have focused on improving home-based palliative care for older people with advancing frailty, and building regional partnerships to improve end-of-life care coordination across community settings.
Dr Kate Bennett
Researcher
Professor Victoria Traynor
Collaborator
Nadine Veerhuis
Collaborator
News
Outputs
- Poster: In the driving cessation decision seat: Testing the feasibility and acceptability of a driving decision aid for people living with dementia
within UK memory services (PDF) - 35th Alzheimer’s Europe Conference 6-8 October 2025, Bolognia Italy - Speaking at Road Safety GB Conference on 28 April 2026