Psychometric Properties of the Brief Fatigue Inventory in Community-Dwelling Older Adults (original) (raw)
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Fatigue among older people: A review of the research literature
International Journal of Nursing Studies, 2010
Fatigue is a complex phenomenon associated with multiple antecedents and detrimental consequences. Although this symptom is prevalent in the older population, it is not easily recognized by nurses and has been under treated.The purpose of this review is to describe the existing research on fatigue on older adults with focus on the lived experience of fatigue, factors related to such fatigue experience and the impact of fatigue on overall health.A systematic search of the literature was undertaken to identify research evidence on fatigue among the older population. Three databases (i.e. OvidMedline, CINAHL and PsycINFO) were searched, resulting in 15 eligible studies. Three aspects about the fatigue phenomenon in older people were identified: the lived experience of fatigue, relating factors of fatigue, and impact of fatigue on overall health.The key findings suggest that fatigue is an overwhelming experience constrains physical capacity and the energy reserve required for appropriate functioning and social participation, as well as worsens their morbidity and mortality outcomes. Yet, its heterogeneous etiologies and multi-dimensional manifestations pose a huge challenge on its diagnosis and treatment. Indeed, there was inadequate research-base evidence on fatigue management for older people. This gap in literature may imply that this problem is poorly recognized and under-treated in older people.The findings highlight that fatigue is a substantial problem in older people that deserves early recognition and prompt treatment. Nurses need to be sensitive to the risk factors of fatigue in the older population and conduct a comprehensive fatigue assessment on the high risk case. Although this review only identified limited research-base evidence, the findings do give directions to the development of interventions for fatigue management for older people.
Fatigue: Relevance and Implications in the Aging Population
Experimental Gerontology, 2015
Frailty has been identified as a promising condition for distinguishing different degrees of vulnerability among older persons. Several operational definitions have proposed fatigue as one of the features characterizing the frailty syndrome. However, such a subjective symptom is still not yet sufficiently explored and understood.
Multidimensional Predictors of Fatigue among Octogenarians and Centenarians
Gerontology, 2012
modeling revealed a significant difference among oldestold adults based on residential status. Conclusion: The results suggest that we should not consider fatigue as merely an unpleasant physical symptom, but rather adopt a perspective that different factors such as psychosocial aspects can influence fatigue in advanced later life.
Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 2011
Objective-To investigate demographic correlates of fatigue in the US general population using a new instrument developed by the Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS). First, we examined correlations between the new PROMIS instrument and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F) and the SF-36v2 Vitality subscale. Based on prior findings, we further examined several demographic correlates of fatigue: whether women would report higher levels of fatigue compared to men, and whether married people would experience lower levels of fatigue compared to unmarried people. We also explored the relationship between age, education, and fatigue. Methods-Analyses were based on fatigue ratings by 666 individuals from the general population. Fatigue was assessed with the new PROMIS instrument, the FACIT-F, and the SF-36v2 Vitality subscale. Differences in fatigue were examined with independent samples t-tests and univariate ANOVAs. Results-The three fatigue instruments were highly intercorrelated. Confirming prior reports, women reported higher levels of fatigue than men. Married participants reported significantly less fatigue than their unmarried counterparts. Univariate ANOVAs yielded a main effect for participants' age; younger participants gave significantly higher fatigue ratings. We also found a main effect for participants' education. Participants with a masters or doctoral degree had significantly lower ratings of fatigue than participants with some college education and education up to high school. Conclusion-Female gender, not being married, younger age and lower educational attainment were each associated with increased fatigue in the general population and the three fatigue instruments performed equally well in detecting the observed associations.
Identifying Clinically Meaningful Fatigue with the Fatigue Symptom Inventory
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 2008
The Fatigue Symptom Inventory (FSI) has been used extensively to assess and measure fatigue in a number of clinical populations. The purpose of the present study was to further establish its utility by examining its operating characteristics and determining the optimal cutoff score for identifying clinically meaningful fatigue. The SF-36 Vitality scale, a measure widely used to identify individuals with significant fatigue-related disability, was used to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the FSI. Results indicate that a score of 3 or greater on those items assessing fatigue in the past week is the optimal cutoff score for identifying clinically meaningful fatigue. Individuals who scored at or above the cutoff also reported significantly greater fatigue interference, more days of fatigue on average, and fatigue a greater proportion of each day in the past week. Findings suggest that the FSI can be used to discriminate effectively between individuals with and without clinically meaningful fatigue.
The Silhouettes Fatigue Scale: comprehensibility and validity in older individuals
Disability and Rehabilitation, 2019
Purpose: Fatigue has been shown to be one of the key factors that interfere in the quality of life of elderly individuals. In order to understand its impact and evaluate the efficacy of treatments that target fatigue, researchers and clinicians need psychometrically sound and easy to use assessment instruments. The aim of this work was to address this need by evaluating the comprehensibility and validity of the Silhouettes Fatigue Scale (SFS) in a sample of older individuals. Methods: A total of 70 older individuals participated in the study. Participants were interviewed individually and asked to rate their level of fatigue during the week before the interview using the SFS and the FACIT-Fatigue Scale (to help evaluate convergent validity), and respond to the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (to help evaluate discriminant validity). Results: The results indicate that the SFS is understandable and that the scores have an adequate convergent validity and discriminant validity when used with older adults. Conclusions: The SFS is a valid measure of fatigue that can be used with older adults. It fills the need for a brief and easy to administer and score measure, which can be used in situations where assessment burden is a significant issue. รค IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION Fatigue is a significant problem among the elderly resulting in significant disability, and psychometrically sound and easy to use questionnaires are needed. The Silhouettes Fatigue Scale (SFS) is a new single-item self-report fatigue rating scale. Results show that the SFS is understandable, and that the scores have discriminant and convergent validity when used with older adults. As it does not use written items, it may be more easily understood by people who have basic or even no literacy level, thus making it easier to use for a wider audience.
Development and Validation of the Fatigue State Questionnaire: Preliminary Findings
The Open Psychology Journal, 2016
Study Objectives: To develop and test an easy to administer, conceptually sound, self-report fatigue state questionnaire, the Fatigue State Questionnaire (FSQ). Design: A self-report study. Setting: Internet-based study. Participants: 214 adults recruited via the Internet website, Mechanical Turk. Interventions: Not applicable Measurements and Results: The FSQ showed adequate internal consistency; Chronbach's alpha ranged from .73 to .82. Test-retest reliability after a ten-minute interval was also acceptable (r=.71). The FSQ had incremental validity over the (SSS) in predicting measures of participant health (r=-.25 vs. r=-.11, z=-2.30, p=<.05), sleep debt (r=.30 vs. r= .15, z=2.82, p<.01) and sleep changes (over or under sleeping by 90 minutes or more) on the night prior (r=.35 vs. r=.22, z=2.20, p<.05). FSQ scores were significantly higher in unhealthy participants compared to healthy participants and in participants with a sleep debt or a sleep change compared to pa...