TY - JOUR
T1 - Cognitive Interventions and Rehabilitation to Address Long-COVID Symptoms
T2 - A Systematic Review
AU - Weix, Natalie M.
AU - Shake, Hannah M.
AU - Duran Saavedra, Ana F.
AU - Clingan, Hannah E.
AU - Hernandez, Victoria C.
AU - Johnson, Gabriella M.
AU - Hansen, Alison De Vries
AU - Collins, Diane M.
AU - Pryor, Loree E.
AU - Kitchens, Riqiea
AU - Armstead, Amber
AU - Hilton, Claudia
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
PY - 2026/1
Y1 - 2026/1
N2 - Long COVID symptoms include cognitive and physical deficits impacting one’s functional performance and quality of life. Limited evidence examines the use of cognitive interventions provided by occupational therapists in treating long COVID symptoms among adults. This systematic review summarizes existing studies on cognitive interventions and rehabilitation to treat long COVID symptoms and discusses their potential use within the scope of occupational therapy practice. We identified literature from 2021 to 2023 through searches of MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Cochrane Trials, and Scopus databases. Nineteen articles met inclusion criteria and were categorized into five types of intervention: (a) cognitive training, (b) cognitive behavioral therapy, (c) neurostimulation, (d) neurostimulation combined with cognitive training, and (e) multi-component rehabilitation programs. Strong evidence supports cognitive training, moderate supports cognitive behavioral training and low-level evidence supports other interventions provided by occupational therapists to target long COVID cognitive symptoms in adults.
AB - Long COVID symptoms include cognitive and physical deficits impacting one’s functional performance and quality of life. Limited evidence examines the use of cognitive interventions provided by occupational therapists in treating long COVID symptoms among adults. This systematic review summarizes existing studies on cognitive interventions and rehabilitation to treat long COVID symptoms and discusses their potential use within the scope of occupational therapy practice. We identified literature from 2021 to 2023 through searches of MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Cochrane Trials, and Scopus databases. Nineteen articles met inclusion criteria and were categorized into five types of intervention: (a) cognitive training, (b) cognitive behavioral therapy, (c) neurostimulation, (d) neurostimulation combined with cognitive training, and (e) multi-component rehabilitation programs. Strong evidence supports cognitive training, moderate supports cognitive behavioral training and low-level evidence supports other interventions provided by occupational therapists to target long COVID cognitive symptoms in adults.
KW - cognitive impairment
KW - cognitive rehabilitation
KW - systematic review
KW - treatment effectiveness
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105005583233
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105005583233#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1177/15394492251328310
DO - 10.1177/15394492251328310
M3 - Article
C2 - 40387694
AN - SCOPUS:105005583233
SN - 1539-4492
VL - 46
SP - 74
EP - 95
JO - OTJR Occupation, Participation and Health
JF - OTJR Occupation, Participation and Health
IS - 1
ER -