Measuring fatigue in patients with cancer
Measuring fatigue in patients with cancer
Our current state of knowledge of the fatigue experienced by patients with cancer is limited, and further development is hampered by the definitions of fatigue, which remain numerous, inconsistent, and varied according to the discipline of the author and the nature of the research. It is fairly well established within the healthcare literature that it is multidimensional in nature. This has implications for the reliable and valid assessment of this phenomenon. There are a number of instruments currently available with which to measure cancer-related fatigue. These include instruments developed for use initially with healthy populations, such as airmen and workers engaged in manual and clerical work. However, cancer-specific fatigue assessment instruments are now available, and are preferable to those instruments developed without reference to this patient group. Fatigue is often found as a single item or scale in self-report measures of symptoms, mood and functional status reflecting the effect of fatigue and the interaction of fatigue with other symptoms or concepts related to quality of life. Factors to be considered in selecting a measure of fatigue for research will be outlined, and recommendations for the future development and validation of useful and scientifically credible measures of fatigue made.
fatigue, cancer, measurement, assessment, quality of life
94-100
Richardson, Alison
3db30680-aa47-43a5-b54d-62d10ece17b7
1998
Richardson, Alison
3db30680-aa47-43a5-b54d-62d10ece17b7
Richardson, Alison
(1998)
Measuring fatigue in patients with cancer.
Supportive Care in Cancer, 6 (2), .
(doi:10.1007/s005200050141).
Abstract
Our current state of knowledge of the fatigue experienced by patients with cancer is limited, and further development is hampered by the definitions of fatigue, which remain numerous, inconsistent, and varied according to the discipline of the author and the nature of the research. It is fairly well established within the healthcare literature that it is multidimensional in nature. This has implications for the reliable and valid assessment of this phenomenon. There are a number of instruments currently available with which to measure cancer-related fatigue. These include instruments developed for use initially with healthy populations, such as airmen and workers engaged in manual and clerical work. However, cancer-specific fatigue assessment instruments are now available, and are preferable to those instruments developed without reference to this patient group. Fatigue is often found as a single item or scale in self-report measures of symptoms, mood and functional status reflecting the effect of fatigue and the interaction of fatigue with other symptoms or concepts related to quality of life. Factors to be considered in selecting a measure of fatigue for research will be outlined, and recommendations for the future development and validation of useful and scientifically credible measures of fatigue made.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: 1998
Keywords:
fatigue, cancer, measurement, assessment, quality of life
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 69082
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/69082
ISSN: 0941-4355
PURE UUID: 32c24639-b238-48ce-93d8-7754ea3a7752
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 06 Jan 2010
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:55
Export record
Altmetrics
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
