Focus on Transition Away from Driving to Reduce Older Adults’ Isolation

​As older adults give up driving, caregivers must work to reduce barriers to these individuals' productive and social engagement to prevent them from becoming isolated, according to a study in the June 2014 issue of the Gerontologist. The authors reviewed survey data among 4,788 adults from 1998 to 2010, finding that driving cessation most immediately affected so-called productive engagement—that is, working and formal or informal volunteer activities. These activities were between 68% and 79% less likely when participants stopped driving.