Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Cognitive Function (FACT-Cog)
What It Measures
The FACT-Cog asks about the cognitive changes people notice during and after cancer treatment — the "chemo brain" experience of losing words, forgetting why you walked into a room, or needing to reread the same paragraph. It measures perception, not performance: what the person notices in their own thinking, not what a neuropsychological test would find.
Thirty-seven items across four subscales, all rated over the past seven days. Perceived Cognitive Impairments (20 items) asks how often specific lapses happened. Comments from Others (4 items) asks whether people around them have noticed. Perceived Cognitive Abilities (9 items) asks what is going well. Impact on Quality of Life (4 items) asks how much it matters. Higher scores mean better cognitive function.
Further Reading
Additional Notes
Licensing Notes: Registration is required before use, and translations must be obtained from FACIT rather than produced independently. Academic and non-commercial use is generally granted without fee; commercial use is licensed separately.
Learn More: Two scoring conventions circulate — a 37-item and a 33-item version — which produce different subscale totals. Published guidance recommends the 37-item scoring and asks users to state clearly which method they used.
