The potential for neuropsychology to inform functional outcomes research with breast cancer survivors

Abstract

Cancer survivorship research has yielded important insights into the impact of breast cancer and associated treatments on such issues as vocational functioning, social role and community functioning, and quality of life. Efforts to understand factors that may impact these functional outcomes have specifically focused on medical, individual, and environmental variables. A relatively recent line of study suggests that neuropsychological functioning is an important individual variable to consider when assessing outcomes among breast cancer survivors, as there is evidence that at least a portion of women undergoing chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer will evidence an apparent decline in neuropsychological functioning. Two critically important issues are less well understood at this time, however. First, what is the underlying etiology of observed changes in cognitive functioning? Second, what is the functional significance of changes in neuropsychological functioning on work, social role and quality of life outcomes? To highlight potential directions for future research, this paper provides a review of existing literature documenting theories and research addressing these issues, and it discusses the potential impacts that changes in neuropsychological abilities may have on vocational, social role, and quality of life outcomes among breast cancer survivors.