Pilot Testing of Metacognitive Strategy Training to Address Cancer-related Cognitive Impairment in Breast Cancer

Summary

The goal of this proposed project is to evaluate the feasibility and preliminary effect of metacognitive strategy training to improve activity performance, cognition, and quality of life in breast cancer survivors with cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI). The other goal of this proposed project is to examine the effects of CO-OP on resting (rsFC)- and task-state functional connectivity as compared to an inactive control group.

Detailed description

Breast cancer survivors often self-report cognitive deficits, primarily in executive functioning (planning, problem solving, multitasking), memory, and processing speed after cancer treatment, i.e., cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI). The prevalence of CRCI following breast cancer is as high as 78% and can persist chronically after treatment has ended. In other health conditions associated with cognitive impairment, such as traumatic brain injury, the only evidence-based recommended practice standard for deficits in executive function is metacognitive strategy training (MCST). In this approach, participants are taught a general cognitive strategy that can be applied in known and novel contexts to devise task specific strategies to successfully engage in an activity. While the cognitive deficits identified in and described by breast cancer survivors seem quite amenable to MCST, there is no study in the published literature which measures the efficacy of MCST on CRCI. The Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) approach is a MCST intervention in which subjects are taught a general cognitive strategy that can be applied in known and novel contexts to devise task specific strategies to engage in an activity. Preliminary data suggest that CO-OP may have a positive impact on subjective and objective cognitive performance in breast cancer survivors with CRCI. Further, this study will evaluate the neurophysiological underpinnings associated with treatment changes through the use of neuroimaging methods.

Arms & interventions

• BehavioralMetacognitive Strategy Training (MCST)

  The MCST group will follow procedures for the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance intervention. First, five functional, everyday life goals are identified collaboratively by the participant and interventionist. In the second meeting, the therapist introduces the approach to the subject and teach a global cognitive strategy (i.e., GOAL-PLAN-DO-CHECK). In all subsequent sessions, this strategy is used as the main problem-solving framework to facilitate skill acquisition. The subject identifies a GOAL, and then is guided by the therapist to discover a PLAN to potentially achieve the goal. The subject is then asked to DO the plan (if feasible during the therapy session otherwise asked to complete at home prior to the next treatment session), and subsequently to CHECK to see if the plan worked, i.e. the goal was achieved. This process is repeated until satisfactory performance is met for each established goal.

• BehavioralInactive Control Group

  Weekly contact will be made via telephone call to (1) maintain study engagement, (2) introduce weekly social contact with researchers, mimicking some of the potential incidental effects of the experimental group, and (3) ascertain what, if any, additional steps participants have taken to reduce cognitive symptoms. The content of each of these meetings will be tracked in intervention notes.

Outcome measures

Eligibility criteria