title: Psychometric properties of the brief fatigue inventory in Greek patients with advanced cancer.
abstract: To validate the Greek version of the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI-Gr) in a sample of cancer patients, the scale was translated with the "forward-backward" procedure to Greek. It was administered twice, at a three-day interval, to 102 eligible patients with cancer. Together with the BFI-Gr scale, the patients also completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30 (version 3.0) subscales of fatigue and emotional functioning, and the M. D. Anderson Symptom Inventory. The BFI-Gr had an overall Cronbach alpha for the nine items of 0.954. The assessment of the relationships between the BFI-Gr and the other measurements showed statistically significant correlations between all the assessed measurements (r values between 0.47 and 0.76, P<0.0005), except with the emotional subscale of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer scale. Factor analysis yielded a one-factor solution, explaining 73.6% of the variance. Interitem correlations were high and ranged from 0.567 to 0.882 (P<0.0005). The test-retest reliability of scale showed that the coefficient agreement was 0.901 (P<0.0005). Univariate analysis revealed significant correlations between hemoglobin and fatigue (r=-0.21, P=0.037), and between performance status (P<0.0005) and opioids (P=0.009). These results support that the BFI-Gr is an instrument with satisfactory psychometric properties, and is a valid research tool for cancer-related fatigue in Greek cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Pain Relief and Palliative Care Unit, Areteion Hospital, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Athens, Greece. mistakidou@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Kyriaki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mystakidou
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tsilika
authors.forename: Efi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Parpa
authors.forename: Tito R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Mendoza
authors.forename: Kyriaki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pistevou-Gombaki
authors.forename: Lambros
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vlahos
authors.forename: Charles S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Cleeland
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity; D005221:Fatigue / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires