TY - CONF

T1 - Comparing two fatigue assessment tools in a sample of Danish individuals with cerebral palsy

AU - Bærentzen, Michelle Barner

AU - Robotham, Ro Julia

PY - 2020/10/7

Y1 - 2020/10/7

N2 - QuestionFatigue has been shown to be more common in individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) than in the general population. Fatigue is a multi-faceted concept that can affect many aspects of an individual’s life negatively. In order to support adults with CP in managing their fatigue, it is important that clinicians have appropriate assessment tools. There are many tools available to measure different aspects of fatigue in different patient populations, however, there are, to our knowledge, only two tools available specifically designed to measure fatigue in youth and adults with CP. The first tool is the Fatigue Impact and Severity Self-Assessment (FISSA) questionnaire (Brunton, 2017) that focuses on physical aspects of fatigue. The second is the Modified Mental Fatigue Scale (m-MFS) (Bergqvist, 2019) that was developed to compliment the FISSA by enabling the assessment of mental fatigue. No study has yet tested the same participants with CP with both tools. Our study aims to compare the responses of a sample of individuals with CP on these two tools to determine whether they provide complementary information about a patient’s experience of fatigue or whether the use of one of the tools is satisfactory in a Danish population of individuals with CP. MethodsThe FISSA and the m-MFS were translated from English to Danish. Two forward translations and one backward translation were carried out for each tool. After piloting the questionnaires in five adults with CP and adjusting the questionnaires, data was collected from thirty Danish-speaking youth and adults (14 years or over) with CP. Scores on the two questionnaires were compared. Results The Danish version of the FISSA and the m-MFS are presented as well as data from 30 individuals with CP on both tests. Similarities and discrepancies between the participant profiles on the two tests are presented and discussed. ConclusionsThe FISSA and the m-MFS are designed to measure different aspects of fatigue and the results from our study suggest that the two tests can be used to complement each other when evaluating fatigue in youth and adults with CP in Denmark.

AB - QuestionFatigue has been shown to be more common in individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) than in the general population. Fatigue is a multi-faceted concept that can affect many aspects of an individual’s life negatively. In order to support adults with CP in managing their fatigue, it is important that clinicians have appropriate assessment tools. There are many tools available to measure different aspects of fatigue in different patient populations, however, there are, to our knowledge, only two tools available specifically designed to measure fatigue in youth and adults with CP. The first tool is the Fatigue Impact and Severity Self-Assessment (FISSA) questionnaire (Brunton, 2017) that focuses on physical aspects of fatigue. The second is the Modified Mental Fatigue Scale (m-MFS) (Bergqvist, 2019) that was developed to compliment the FISSA by enabling the assessment of mental fatigue. No study has yet tested the same participants with CP with both tools. Our study aims to compare the responses of a sample of individuals with CP on these two tools to determine whether they provide complementary information about a patient’s experience of fatigue or whether the use of one of the tools is satisfactory in a Danish population of individuals with CP. MethodsThe FISSA and the m-MFS were translated from English to Danish. Two forward translations and one backward translation were carried out for each tool. After piloting the questionnaires in five adults with CP and adjusting the questionnaires, data was collected from thirty Danish-speaking youth and adults (14 years or over) with CP. Scores on the two questionnaires were compared. Results The Danish version of the FISSA and the m-MFS are presented as well as data from 30 individuals with CP on both tests. Similarities and discrepancies between the participant profiles on the two tests are presented and discussed. ConclusionsThe FISSA and the m-MFS are designed to measure different aspects of fatigue and the results from our study suggest that the two tests can be used to complement each other when evaluating fatigue in youth and adults with CP in Denmark.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - Cerebral Palsy

KW - FATIGUE

KW - Assessment

M3 - Poster

T2 - 11th World Congress for Neurorehabilitation

Y2 - 7 October 2020 through 10 October 2020

ER -