Background: Cognitive impairment often occurs in people with schizophrenia resulting in problems with daily performance and functioning. There is growing literature describing that cognitive remediation therapy can produce modest improvements in cognitive functioning suggesting that systematic efforts are feasible. On the other hand, the aspects of cognition that are targeted in different remediation programs vary substantially, for example, from cognitive training, perceptual processes or attention to social cognition. Recently ICT based cognitive remediation has been used in variety of settings. However, there are considerable challenges in assessing and comparing different ICT interventions.

Objectives: To describe challenges in preparing systematic review and meta-analysis of ICT based cognitive remediation for people with schizophrenia.

Methods: All relevant randomized controlled trials found by electronic (N = 88) and manual searches (N=10) were assessed. Studies focused on adult participants who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia or related disorders.

Results: Out of 98 abstracts, 22 were excluded based on our inclusion criteria, 8 studies were ongoing, 1 abstract was a duplicate and 3 remain unclear. This left 64 abstracts. However, due to the reporting style, we had 29 studies to be analyzed. Out of 29 studies we found no less than 18 different types of ICT based cognitive remediation interventions, for which content, structure and practical arrangements varied. Results of the ICT based interventions were encouraging with cognitive remediation.

Conclusions: Systematic analysis of the ICT based cognitive remediation interventions in various contexts is complicated as there is no commonly accepted definition.