Introduction

Memory, attention and executive deficits are the most common cognitive impairments in the clients who are referred to the Oliver Zangwill Centre for Neuropsychological Rehabilitation and they are therefore the focus of the Cognitive Group. The aim of this group is to help clients to develop a better awareness of their own difficulties in these areas, as well as gaining knowledge and experience of strategies that can be used to manage these cognitive problems. As with the Understanding Brain Injury (UBI) Group described in Chapter 5, the group format enables clients to learn from the group facilitators as well as from each other, through discussions of their own problems and strategies they have found helpful.

The group begins by focusing on attention and executive functioning (referred to using terms such as goal management or problem solving) and then goes on to look at memory. This chapter will describe Part 1 of the group, looking at attention and goal management (A&GM) together, as these concepts and the everyday difficulties associated with them overlap so much. We begin by considering the evidence addressing the efficacy of treatments for impairments in attention and executive functions.

Rehabilitation of attention and executive functions: the evidence base

The evidence base relating to the rehabilitation of attention and executive functions is relatively small.