The Role of Cognitive Development in Safe Tractor Operation: A Simulation Study

描述（由申请人提供）：农用拖拉机占农业青年致命伤害的大部分。1-3拖拉机也是致残的非致命创伤的重要来源，因此是儿童伤害预防的首要职业。据推测，许多与拖拉机相关的伤害之所以发生，是因为年轻人被分配了超出他们身体和认知能力的拖拉机工作虽然过去的研究记录了儿童的人体测量特征与拖拉机操作的身体要求之间的不匹配，但在儿童发育或生物医学文献中，关于认知和青少年拖拉机操作的科学证据很少。本先导研究“认知发展在拖拉机安全操作中的作用：模拟研究”的目的是调查青少年安全操作拖拉机所需的认知发展技能。试点研究将使用国家高级驾驶模拟器（NADS）进行模拟器技术在我们的研究计划中的可用性将使我们能够收集经验证据来回答使用任何其他方法都无法安全地回答的重要问题。这项试点研究的结果将帮助我们建立一个与青少年安全操作拖拉机相关的认知发展因素模型，该模型可用于未来的研究、干预开发和政策应用。这条研究路线的长期目标是通过提供客观的经验证据来帮助父母、雇主和政策制定者，为这种危险的农业工作提供适当的年龄参数，以防止青少年拖拉机死亡和伤害。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Farm tractors account for the majority of fatal injuries to youth working in agriculture.1-3 Tractors are also an important source of disabling non-fatal trauma4 and therefore represent a leading occupational priority for childhood injury prevention. It has been hypothesized that many tractor-related injuries occur because youth are assigned tractor jobs that are beyond their physical and cognitive capabilities.5 While past studies documented physical mismatches between anthropometric characteristics of children and the physical requirements of tractor operation, 6-8 there is little available scientific evidence in the child development or biomedical literatures with respect to cognition and youth tractor operation. The purpose of this pilot study, "The Role of Cognitive Development in Safe Tractor Operation: A Simulation Study" is to investigate the cognitive development skills necessary for safe youth tractor operations. The pilot study will be conducted using the National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS).9 The availability of simulator technology for our research proposal will allow us to gather empirical evidence to answer important questions that could not safely be answered using any other methods. The results of this pilot study will assist us in generating a model of cognitive developmental factors relevant for safe tractor operations by youth that can be used and tested in future research, intervention development, and policy applications. The long term goal of this line of research is to prevent youth tractor fatalities and injuries by providing objective, empirical evidence to assist parents, employers, and policymakers on appropriate age parameters for this hazardous agricultural job. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Farm tractors are the largest source of fatal injury across all age groups of youth agricultural workers,3 and also a major source of disabling non-fatal trauma.4 This pilot study will investigate the cognitive development skills necessary for safe youth tractor operations by youth ages 10 to 17. The long term goal of this line of research is to prevent youth tractor fatalities and injuries by providing objective, empirical evidence to assist parents, employers, and policymakers on appropriate age parameters for this hazardous agricultural job.