The Web-based intervention shows promise for improving self-reported cognitive functioning in adult cancer survivors. Further research is warranted to better understand the mechanisms by which the intervention might contribute to improved self-reported cognition.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a web-based cognitive rehabilitation intervention in survivors of adult-onset cancer and a sample of non-cancer community dwelling adults. Fifty-one participants were recruited and allocated to a cancer intervention group, a non-cancer intervention group, or a non-cancer waitlist group. Intervention groups completed a 4-week online program and all participants were assessed at baseline, post-intervention and 3-month follow-up. The primary outcome measure was subjective cognitive functioning. Secondary outcome measures included objective cognitive functioning, distress, quality of life (QoL), illness perception and program satisfaction. Results from the study found significant improvements on self-report measures of cognitive functioning in both treatment groups, as well as improvements on objective measures assessing attention and executive functioning. No intervention effects were observed for distress, QoL or illness perception. High participant satisfaction was observed with 75% of participants in the cancer group reporting being either "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the program compared to 87% in the non-cancer treatment group. Initial evaluation of the program suggests that the web-based cognitive rehabilitation intervention shows potential for improving subjective and objective cognitive functioning in cancer survivors and community dwelling adults.

Measuring completed activities in online interventions appears a more meaningful measure of engagement than other conventional methods described in the literature and has the potential to increase treatment fidelity in web-based research.

This study examined subjective and objective cognitive functioning in 26 female breast cancer survivors (BCS) who received chemotherapy treatment that finished .5 to 5 years prior to testing and compared their results to 25 demographically matched women with no history of cancer. Participants were assessed on prospective memory (PM) tasks; neuropsychological tests of processing speed, attentional flexibility with greater cognitive load, executive function, and verbal memory; self-report measures of cognitive dysfunction and PM failures; and distress. The BCS group showed significantly slower speed of processing and reduced attentional flexibility, and reported significantly more cognitive complaints and PM failures than the control group on five of six self-report measures. The groups did not differ on other PM or neuropsychological measures or on a measure of distress. Subjective cognition correlated with some neuropsychological tests and with a virtual reality PM task. Objective cognitive impairments were associated with reduced quality of life in the BCS group. The results provide some evidence of both self-reported impairment and objective cognitive dysfunction following chemotherapy treatment.

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