'Chemo Brain' Is a Big Problem, According to Breast Cancer Patients

FACT-Cog is broken up into four major sections: perceived cognitive impairments, comments from others, perceived cognitive abilities, and the impact on quality of life. Each section asks a range of statements of varying nature, from general statements such as “my thinking has been slow” to more specific issues such as “I have had trouble recalling the name of an object while talking to someone.”

Mental slip-ups are common, and different people will ordinarily have a hard time with different common tasks. For one, it might ordinarily be difficult to remember the date, for another, remembering directions might be ordinarily challenging. The survey excels in that it addresses all of these areas across an individual’s strengths and weaknesses, to reduce subjectivity and see if a person who never has a problem finding their wallet and keys suddenly begins to have a hard time remembering where they set said objects down.

In a similar way, by having participants indicate the frequency of which other people have pointed out “trouble in speaking clearly” or that an individual “seemed confused” during conversation, the survey can receive a secondary, unbiased source of data. This is particularly helpful, as people will not often point out lapses in a person’s mental capacity unless it is out of the ordinary for that person.