Ferguson, R.J., Ahles, T.A., Saykin, A.J., McDonald, B.C., Furstenberg, C.T., Cole, B.F., & Mott, L.A. (2007). Cogntive-behavioral management of chemotherapy-related cognitive change. Psycho-Oncology, 16, 772–777.
The study was conducted to examine Memory and Attention Training (MAAT) as a possible intervention for cognitive dysfunction. MAAT consists of four cognitive-behavioral components.
The MAAT intervention contained
This was a prospective, longitudinal, single-arm pilot study.
Participants rated the MAAT program with high levels of general satisfaction post-treatment, and reported that it was helpful with improving memory, attention, and compensatory skills.
Neuropsychological test results revealed improvement on verbal memory (p = 0.001), executive functioning (p < 0.001), and psychomotor functioning (p = 0.001). Moderate to large treatment effect sizes (0.47 to 0.67) were observed in the MASQ total score and subscales immediately post-treatment, and the visual perceptual scale (0.63) was significant at the two month follow-up. Self-report in cognitive function in participants’ daily lives improved significantly over baseline and was sustained across all follow-up periods (p = 0.001). Similar patterns of improvement were observed on MASQ subscales of attention and concentration, spatial memory, verbal memory, and language.
MAAT is a feasible and possibly effective cognitive-behavioral, non-pharmacologic management approach to a common problem for many cancer survivors.