Assessment and intervention for fear and phobia of driving: Literature review

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyze the scientific production on evaluation and intervention performed with people who are afraid of driving or have driving phobia. The descriptors ‘fear of driving’ and ‘driving phobia’ were used in Portuguese, Spanish and English in the SciELO, PePSIC, CAPES Periodical and Google Academic databases. From the 119 studies found, based on the inclusion/exclusion criteria, 28 articles were analyzed. The results identified a predominance of female participants aged 35-45 years who learned to drive later. No statistically significant differences were found for sociodemographic variables and driver license time. In addition, not always fear of driving is due to having suffered a traffic accident, although these drivers have greater probability of being afraid of driving. The most feared situations by people who suffered from fear of driving were grouped in relation to the road, vehicle, weather conditions and personal/social conditions. Only seven articles were found that provided information about the construction, adaptation or search for validity evidence of instruments to assess the fear of driving. Intervention studies aimed to reduce or extinguish driving avoidance behavior, increase contact with the vehicle, improve driving skills and, consequently, confidence in driving safely. Treatment techniques included relaxation and breathing training, in vivo and systematic desensitization and use of steering simulators – VRET. It is concluded that the researchers’ interest in the subject has increased, but that further studies are needed, especially regarding therapeutic interventions.

Keywords: fear, phobia, literature review.