Rehabilitation of cognitive dysfunction in survivors of breast cancer: a pilot study involving survivor-partner dyads
Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Purpose: Cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) has been associated with \nfatigue, emotional distress, reduced quality of life, and caregiver strain. A potential \ntreatment option for those with CRCI is cognitive rehabilitation, a behavioural \napproach to improve cognitive skills and quality of life. There have been some \nstudies that involve caregivers in aspects of rehabilitation. There are no studies in the \nliterature however, that include direct retraining of survivors on lost functions and \nconcurrent participation by their caregivers across all sessions. To fill this gap, a \ncomprehensive 10-week cognitive rehabilitation program (CRP) was created, with \naims to generalize improvement to everyday life in survivors of breast cancer. \nMethods: A manualized CRP was developed and piloted with breast cancer survivors \n(BCSs) and their training partners. The program focused on psychoeducation and \ndirect training on communication strategies, breathing/relaxation techniques, simple \nand complex attention, and higher-order thinking. Outcome measures included \nfeasibility (retention and attendance rates), acceptability (homework compliance, \nsession and program satisfaction), and measures of cognitive functioning and quality \nof life. BCSs and their individual partner underwent assessments at baseline, \nimmediately after completing the program, and approximately 10 weeks later in order \nto investigate maintenance effects. \nResults: Six BCSs (ages 44-59; ≥1 year post-chemotherapy) and their training \npartners enrolled and completed this study with a (100% retention rate). Rates of \nattendance were high for both BCSs and their training partners (94% and 92.5% \nrespectively) with all participants indicating high levels of satisfaction with the \niv \nprogram. Repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) did not reveal a \nsignificant main effect for time on measures of sustained attention, processing speed, \nexecutive function, fluency (semantic and phonemic), verbal and visuospatial \nlearning, recall and recognition. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant \nmain effect for time on measures of attentional capacity, focused attention, motor \ndexterity with the non-dominant hand, confrontation naming, and overall quality of \nlife. Additionally, analyses using adjusted reliable change indices (RCI) were \nconducted on individual cases. RCIs yielded no change on most measures across \ntime.
Author: Katherine George
Language: English
Subfield: Oncology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2514850705