Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy

Original Editor - Ajay Upadhyay

Top Contributors - Fasuba Ayobami, Ajay Upadhyay, WikiSysop, Kim Jackson and Lauren Lopez  

Objective

To measure health-related quality of life of people with chronic illnesses. The FACIT questionnaires are some of the more commonly used questionnaires in national and international research settings. The ownership and copyright of the FACIT System resides strictly with Dr. Cella. Fatigue is one of the most frequent complaints of the elderly and is strongly associated with loss of independence and decreased physical activity and functional decline. Mild depression, anemia, insomnia, and poor nutrition have been associated with fatigue. However, many older persons report complaints of “fatigue” and “exhaustion” even when no underlying medical or psychiatric illness is present (Avlund et al., 2003). Thus, the lack of an “underlying illness” makes the impact of unexplained fatigue even more crucial.

Intended Population

Older adults who report fatigue.

Method of Use

Although there are several validated tools for the measurement of fatigue, there is no gold standard (NIA, 2007). One selfreport questionnaire that has been validated for use with older adults is the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT)Fatigue Scale (Version 4). The FACIT Fatigue Scale is a short, 13-item, easy to administer tool that measures an individual’s level of fatigue during their usual daily activities over the past week. The level of fatigue is measured on a four point Likert scale (4 = not at all fatigued to 0 = very much fatigued) (Webster et al., 2003). The FACIT Fatigue Scale is one of many different FACIT scales that are part of a collection of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) questionnaires targeted to the management of chronic illness referred to as The FACIT Measurement System. The group tests newly constructed FACIT subscales on a sample of at least 50 subjects. The FACIT tool has been translated in more than 45 different languages permitting cross-cultural comparisons.

Reference

Measurement of fatigue in cancer, stroke, and HIV using the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy - Fatigue (FACIT-F) scale. Butt Z et al. J Psychosom Res. (2013)

Measures of fatigue: Bristol Rheumatoid Arthritis Fatigue Multi-Dimensional Questionnaire (BRAF MDQ), Bristol Rheumatoid Arthritis Fatigue Numerical Rating Scales (BRAF NRS) for severity, effect, and coping, Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire (CFQ), Checklist Individual Strength (CIS20R and CIS8R), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Functional Assessment Chronic Illness Therapy (Fatigue) (FACIT-F), Multi-Dimensional Assessment of Fatigue (MAF), Multi-Dimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI), Pediatric Quality Of Life (PedsQL) Multi-Dimensional Fatigue Scale, Profile of Fatigue (ProF), Short Form 36 Vitality Subscale (SF-36 VT), and Visual Analog Scales (VAS). Hewlett S et al. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). (2011)

Evidence

In a 2007 study, (Chandran et al., 2007) the FACIT Fatigue Scale was found to have high internal validity(Cronbach’s alpha = 0.96) and high test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.95). The correlation between the FACIT and Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) was -0.79 tool comparison (Tennant et al., 2011). Thus, the FACIT has demonstrated reliability and sensitivity to change in clients with a variety of chronic health conditions and in the general population and in special populations such as the elderly and those living in rural areas.

Recent Related Research (from Pubmed)

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References

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