Outcome Measure

Fatigue Assessment Scale

What it measures?

  • The FAS full-scale assesses symptoms of physical and mental fatigue.
  • It is possible to calculate Physical fatigue and a Mental fatigue subscales, each containing 5 items (De Vries, Michielsen, Van Heck & Drent, 2004). However, factor-analytic studies support a unidimensional structure, and so we have chosen not to calculate them.

Who is it for?

Adults aged 18 years and older.

Instrument Quality

  • The FASD has been validated in studies examining at least 26 different diseases or conditions, including stroke, neurologic disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and sarcoidosis, and demonstrates good reliability and validity (Hendriks, Drent, Elfferich & De Vries, 2018). A unidimensional factor structure is supported in both normative and clinical samples (Michielson et al., 2003; Michielson et al., 2004).

Structure

  • 10 items
  • 5-point Likert scale
  • Respondents are asked how often (1 = “Never”; 5 = “Always”) they usually experience each statement (e.g. “Mentally, I feel exhausted”)

Scoring instructions

Sum all item responses to derive the full-scale score.

Subscale Item number

Full-scale (FAS)

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

Score Interpretation

What higher scores mean?
  • More severe symptoms of mental and/or physical fatigue.
How to assess symptom severity & change?
Description Score Range  
No fatigue 10  
Mild-to-moderate fatigue 22  
Severe fatigue 35  
Maximum 50  
Severity ranges

Severity ranges were reported by Hendriks, Drent, Elfferich and De Vries (2018), who conducted a review of the FAS for use with patients experiencing sarcoidosis and other diseases.

Reliable change and clinically significant improvement

De Kleign, De Vries, Wijnen and Drent (2011) examined the Minimal Clinically Important Difference (MCID) score on the FAS in a sample of patients experiencing sarcoidosis. Using anchor-based and distribution-based methods, the authors reported that the Standard Error of Measurement (SEM) was 3.6 points, and the MCID was a 4-points.

Mean
Sample Mean Comments
Clinical 26.3 Normative mean and standard deviation values are based on a sample of 1197 German patients (414 males and 783 females, with a mean age of 54.3 years) diagnosed with sarcoidosis (Hinz, Fleischer, Brähler, Wirtz, and Bosse-Henck, 2011).
Normative 19.26 Michielsen, De Vries and Van Heck evaluated the FAS using a sample of workers with at least 20 working hours per week (N = 350).
Standard Deviation
Sample Mean Comments
Clinical 7.9 Normative mean and standard deviation values are based on a sample of 1197 German patients (414 males and 783 females, with a mean age of 54.3 years) diagnosed with sarcoidosis (Hinz, Fleischer, Brähler, Wirtz, and Bosse-Henck, 2011).
Normative 6.52 Michielsen, De Vries and Van Heck evaluated the FAS using a sample of workers with at least 20 working hours per week (N = 350).
Reliability
Value Comments
0.9 Horisberger, Courvoisier and Ribi (2019) evaluated test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation) in a sample of patients (N = 30) with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) over a 2-week interval. Similarly, De Vries, Michielsen, Van Heck and Drent (2004) previously reported a test-retest reiliability of 0.89 over a 1-week interval.

Instrument developers

  • Michielsen, H. J., De Vries, J., & Van Heck, G. L. (2003). Psychometric qualities of a brief self-rated fatigue measure: The Fatigue Assessment Scale. Journal of psychosomatic research, 54(4), 345-352

Refrences

* de Kleijn, W. P., De Vries, J., Wijnen, P. A., & Drent, M. (2011). Minimal (clinically) important differences for the Fatigue Assessment Scale in sarcoidosis. Respiratory medicine, 105(9), 1388-1395. * De Vries, J., Michielsen, H., Van Heck, G. L., & Drent, M. (2004). Measuring fatigue in sarcoidosis: the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS). British journal of health psychology, 9(3), 279-291 * De Vries, J., Van der Steeg, A. F., & Roukema, J. A. (2010). Psychometric properties of the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS) in women with breast problems. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 10(1), 125-139. * Hendriks, C., Drent, M., Elfferich, M., & De Vries, J. (2018). The Fatigue Assessment Scale: quality and availability in sarcoidosis and other diseases. Current opinion in pulmonary medicine, 24(5), 495-503. * Hinz, A., Fleischer, M., Brähler, E., Wirtz, H., & Bosse-Henck, A. (2011). Fatigue in patients with sarcoidosis, compared with the general population. General hospital psychiatry, 33(5), 462-468 * Horisberger, A., Courvoisier, D., & Ribi, C. (2019). The Fatigue Assessment Scale as a simple and reliable tool in systemic lupus erythematosus: a cross-sectional study. Arthritis research & therapy, 21, 1-8. * Michielsen, H. J., De Vries, J., & Van Heck, G. L. (2003). Psychometric qualities of a brief self-rated fatigue measure: The Fatigue Assessment Scale. Journal of psychosomatic research, 54(4), 345-352. * Michielsen, H. J., Drent, M., Peros-Golubicic, T., & De Vries, J. (2006). Fatigue is associated with quality of life in sarcoidosis patients. Chest, 130(4), 989-994

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