title: Reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Chalder Fatigue Scale among youth in Japan.
abstract: In the present study, the reliability and construct validity of the Japanese version of the Chalder Fatigue Scale was evaluated as a measure of severity of fatigue among young students in Japan. A healthy group comprised 27 Grade 6 primary school students and 28 Grade 1 junior high school students. The severely fatigued group were hospital outpatients with childhood chronic fatigue syndrome (n = 21). Principal components analysis with varimax rotation identified 4 factors which accounted for 63.2% of the total variance, as in the original English version. Internal consistency (Cronbach coefficient alpha) was .73, and test-retest reliability measured using Spearman rank correlation coefficient was .55. Scale scores of the healthy subjects were lower than those of the patients with childhood chronic fatigue syndrome. The reliability (alpha) and construct validity of the Japanese version of the scale among healthy students in Japan were satisfactory for research studies among healthy school students.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan. masa-t@msic.med.osaka-cu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Sanae
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Kei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mizuno
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Imai-Matsumura
authors.forename: Takako
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jodoi
authors.forename: Junko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kawatani
authors.forename: Miyuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takano
authors.forename: Teruhisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miike
authors.forename: Akemi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tomoda
authors.forename: Yasuyoshi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Watanabe